International Business News – According to the latest data released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia recently, in July this year, Malaysia’s trade volume increased by 39.8% year-on-year to 252.65 billion ringgit, with a strong upward momentum, achieving double-digit growth in trade volume for 18 consecutive months.
Among them, the export value increased by 38% year-on-year to 134.07 billion ringgit, achieving double-digit growth for 12 consecutive months; the import value increased by 41.9% to 118.58 billion ringgit, and the trade surplus increased by 14.3% to 15.49 billion ringgit. The increase in Malaysia’s exports for the month was mainly driven by higher external demand for electrical and electronic products, petroleum products, and liquefied natural gas.
On the export side, exports of manufactured goods rose 35.4% on an annualized basis to 112.26 billion ringgit in July, the 12th consecutive month of double-digit growth. The growth was mainly driven by exports of electrical and electronic products, petroleum products, machinery, equipment and parts, metal products, optical fibers and scientific equipment, as well as chemical products, which increased by more than 1 billion ringgit each. Minerals exports rose 100.4% on an annualized basis to 10.81 billion ringgit, the 16th straight month of double-digit growth, supported by growth in LNG and crude oil exports. Agricultural products rose 24.1% year-on-year to 10.52 billion ringgit, the 17th consecutive month of double-digit growth, led by strong exports of palm oil and palm oil products.
In terms of imports, with the increase in imports of processing industrial supplies, intermediate products, which accounted for 52.1% of total imports, increased by 32.2% year-on-year. Imports of industrial transport equipment rose, boosting imports of capital goods, which accounted for 9.3 percent of total imports, by 29.6 percent. Imports of processed food and beverages, mainly for household consumption, increased, boosting imports of consumer goods, which accounted for 7.2 percent of total imports, by 33.2 percent.
From a geographical perspective, in July, Malaysia’s trade with ASEAN countries increased by 63.0% year-on-year at an annual rate, accounting for 29.0% of the total trade volume. Trade with China rose by 19.3% year-on-year to 40.58 billion ringgit in July, achieving double-digit growth for the 20th consecutive year and accounting for 16.1% of total trade volume. The trade volume with the United States, the European Union and Japan increased by 29.7%, 14% and 29.6% year-on-year respectively.
In the first seven months of this year, Malaysia’s total trade volume increased by 29.9% year-on-year to 1.61 trillion ringgit, export value increased by 27.8% year-on-year to 873.07 billion ringgit, import value increased by 32.5% year-on-year to 734.51 billion ringgit, and trade surplus increased 7.4% to 138.56 billion ringgit. Total trade volume, export volume, import volume and trade surplus all hit new highs.
With the gradual recovery of the supply chain, Malaysia’s trade is expected to continue to grow steadily this year, driven by the manufacturing industry.