Malaysia's July exports up 4.5% to RM60.73 BLN

Malaysia's July exports up 4.5% to RM60.73 BLN
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Bernama
Friday, 06 September 2013 12:02

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Malaysia's exports in July rose RM2.61 billion or 4.5 per cent to RM60.73 billion from a year ago, also the highest monthly exports in the January-July period, the Statistics Department said.

The higher exports were mainly to China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand, it said.

"The exports expansion is mainly contributed by higher exports of liquefied natural gas, electrical and electronics products, primarily electronics integrated circuits," the department said in a statement.

As for imports, there was a 6.2 per cent increase to RM57.87 billion in July from the same month last year.

"Imports of intermediate goods rose by 1.6 per cent or RM545.4 million. Imports of capital goods increased by 8.3 per cent or RM685.7 million and consumption goods expanded by 10.6 per cent or RM443 million," it said.

It said compared with July last year, Malaysia's total trade in July increased by 5.3 per cent to RM118.59 billion.

The increase in total trade was contributed mainly by higher trade, with China by RM3.26 billion, South Korea (RM1.07 billion) and Taiwan (RM1.06 billion), it said.

In the January-July period this year, Malaysia's total trade was worth RM769.64 billion, up 0.7 per cent from the same period last year.

Exports fell by 2.6 per cent to RM398.54 billion while imports grew by 4.6 per cent to RM371.1 billion during the period under review.

A RM27.44 billion trade surplus was recorded in the January-July period, the department said.

The top five trading partners are China (+6.4 per cent); Singapore (+2.5 per cent) and the European Union (+2.9 per cent) while trade with Japan and the United States declined by nine per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.