Malaysia's March total trade up 1.6pct

Business & Markets 2013
Written by Bernama
Wednesday, 08 May 2013 12:19
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): Malaysia's total trade in March rose 1.6 per
cent to RM114.94 billion, compared with the same month a year ago,
the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said today.
The growth in total trade was supported by higher trade with France,
China, India, the United States, Korea and Thailand.
Exports slid 2.9 per cent to RM60.01 billion against March 2012, while
imports went up seven per cent to RM54.93 billion, the ministry said in a
statement on the Malaysia External Trade Statistics here.
It said reduced exports were registered mainly for palm oil and
electrical and electronic (E&E) products, mainly storage units for
computer.
Lower exports were recorded for Australia, Taiwan, the US and Japan.
Offtakes of manufactured goods for March decreased by 3.5 per cent from a year ago to RM40.41 billion.
Major export products for the month were electrical and electronic products (RM19.74 billion), liquefied natural gas (RM5.31
billion), refined petroleum products (RM4.62 billion), chemicals and chemical products (RM4.12 billion) and palm oil (RM3.63
billion).
In terms of imports, Miti said the key categories by end-use were intermediate goods valued at RM33.13 billion or 60.3 per
cent of the total, capital goods (RM9.11 billion or 16.6 per cent) and consumption goods (RM3.64 billion or 6.6 per cent).
Meanwhile, Malaysia's total trade for the first three months of the year was valued at RM322.38 billion, up 1.5 per cent over
the corresponding period of 2012.
Exports eased by 2.4 per cent to RM169.47 billion, while imports expanded by 6.2 per cent to RM152.91 billion, resulting in a
trade surplus of RM16.55 billion.
Among the top five trading partners, expansion in trade was recorded with Asean, with an increase of 4.7 per cent, China at
8.3 per cent, the European Union(4.1 per cent) and the US (0.9 per cent).
However, total trade with Japan went down by 9.7 per cent.
According to the statistics, exports of manufactured goods from January-March decreased by 3.2 per cent to RM110.7
billion, accounting for 65.3 per cent of total exports.
"The decrease in exports of manufactured goods was due mainly to lower exports of E&E products, by 4.9 per cent, primarily
storage units for computers.
"Expansion in manufactured exports was, however, recorded for processed food as well as optical and scientific equipment,"
it said.
Exports of mining goods, rose by 7.4 per cent to RM40.7 billion, while offtakes for agricultural goods, contracted by 17.2 per
cent to RM16.7 billion.
Exports of palm oil and crude rubber decreased by 20.5 per cent and 11.5 per cent respectively, contributed mainly by lower
prices.
As for imports during January to March, the ministry said total imports for the reviewed period increased by 6.2 per cent to
RM152.91.
The main end-use were intermediate goods valued at RM89.87 billion of the total, capital goods (RM24.31 billion) and
consumption goods (RM10.5billion).