Malaysia's trade surplus rises 38 pct to RM16.6b in January 2021

 

Malaysia’s trade surplus soared by 38.0 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM16.6 billion in January 2021, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician  Mohd Uzir Mahidin said total trade widened by 4.1 percent y-o-y to RM162.6 billion.

He said Malaysia’s total exports continued its positive momentum of five consecutive months of improvement by expanding 6.6 percent y-o-y to RM89.6 billion in January 2021, while imports continued to record an increase of 1.3 percent to RM73 billion.

“This was the highest export value recorded for January so far, driven by both domestic exports and re-exports.

“Domestic exports grew by 6.3 percent at RM72.1 billion and it contributed 80.5 percent to the total exports,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Re-exports grew 7.5 percent y-o-y to RM17.5 billion in January 2021, while imports increased 1.3 percent y-o-y to RM73 billion.

Mohd Uzir said Malaysia's export expansion was supported mainly by higher exports to China (+RM2.7 billion), the United States (+RM1.6 billion), Vietnam (+RM1.2 billion), the European Union (+RM821.3 million), and Singapore (+RM621.0 million).

The main products, which contributed to the increase in exports, were electrical and electronic products (+RM4.2 billion); rubber products (+RM4.1 billion); manufacture of metal (+RM614.4 million), and chemical and chemical products (+RM448.9 million), he said.

Meanwhile, increases in imports were mainly from Taiwan (+RM1.0 billion), China (+RM793.9 million), Hong Kong (+RM686.1 million), and Indonesia (+RM662.1 million).

The expansion in imports was noted for electrical and electronic products (+RM3.4 billion) and rubber products (+RM623.9 million).

- Bernama