MALAYSIA’S trade surplus grew 14.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM10.41 billion last month, the highest recorded for May since 2008.

It is also the fourth time that the country achieved a trade surplus exceeding RM10 billion this year, said International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali in a statement today.

However, total trade during the month shrank 27.8% to RM114.96 billion compared with a year earlier due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Trade was lower particularly with Singapore, Thailand, India, China, Japan and Indonesia.

“Exports totalled RM62.69 billion, a contraction of 25.5%, while imports decreased 30.4% to RM52.27 billion,” said Azmin.

“Compared with April 2020, trade, exports and imports slipped 13.7%, 3.2% and 23.6%, respectively.”

For the first five months of the year, Malaysia’s trade fell 8.7% y-o-y to RM688.57 billion.

Lower trade was recorded with Thailand, Singapore, India, China and Hong Kong, while trade with South Korea and Indonesia was higher. Exports during the period shrank 9.7% to RM366.16 billion, while imports contracted 7.5% to RM322.41 billion.

Trade surplus was valued at RM43.75 billion, 23% lower compared with the same period last year.

Azmin said exports of rubber products, especially gloves, registered a double-digit growth for two straight months, with an increase of 20.5%, or RM461 million, in May, underpinned by growing demand during the pandemic.

This is despite a decline in exports of manufactured goods by 23.5% y-o-y to RM54.21 billion.

Exports of agricultural goods – a 7.9% share – decreased 21.3% to RM4.94 billion from a year earlier due to lower trade in palm oil and its associated products.

Exports of mining goods – a 5.1% share – dropped 49.1% y-o-y to RM3.22 billion, mainly due to lower trade in crude petroleum and liquefied natural gas.

Meanwhile, trade with Asean last month contracted by 35.6% y-o-y to RM28.11 billion, accounting for a 24.5% share of Malaysia’s total trade.

As for trade with China, representing 20.7% of Malaysia’s total trade, or RM23.75 billion, the figure for last month is a 10.6% decrease y-o-y.

Azmin said trade with the US, comprising 10.7% of Malaysia’s total trade last month, saw a fall of 12.5% y-o-y to RM12.26 billion.

He said trade with free-trade agreement partners, which made up 66.4% of Malaysia’s total trade last month, recorded a decline of 28.4% y-o-y to RM76.3 billion.

Exports to these countries were valued at RM42.76 billion, a decrease of 26.3%, and imports were lower by 31% at RM33.54 billion. – Bernama, June 29, 2020.