MALAYSIA’S trade performance in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017 rose by 24% to RM430.5 billion compared with the same period last year, putting it on track to achieve a 5% growth in exports this year. 

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the 5% growth was higher than the 3.3% average among emerging markets and developing economies projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

“With a better export performance this year, we are confident that trade will be a major contributor towards delivering our economic growth of 4.3-4.8% in 2017 as projected by Bank Negara Malaysia,” he said in a statement yesterday. 

He said the latest year-on-year quarterly growth in total trade was the fastest rate recorded since the second quarter (Q2) of 2010.  

“The growth rate has been averaging around 5.3% since; and the highest growth recorded prior to this was 11.5% in Q2 2014.

“For Q1 2017, exports increased by 21.4% to RM224.7 billion compared with the 2.3% increase recorded in the same quarter last year. Imports grew by 27.7% to RM205.82 billion compared with the same quarter last year,” he said. 

He said the remarkable export performance in Q1 2017 was underpinned by higher exports in all major sectors, namely, manufacturing (↑19.5%), mining (↑25.5%) and agricultural goods (↑26.6%). 

“For Q1 2017, electrical and electronic products, the biggest export item increased by 18.4%. This was due to the strong global demand for mobile devices including smartphones, health gadgets, circuits and items connecting devices to the internet or Internet of Things. 

Export of petroleum products grew by 61% and palm oil and palm oil-based agricultural products increased by 34.4% for the first three months of 2017. 

“This was due to a higher average price for commodity during this period despite lower export volume,” he said, adding that chemicals and chemical products also went up by 24.2% and rubber products by 36.2%.

“In March alone, trade expanded by 31.1% to RM159.86 billion compared with the year before, with exports surging by 24.1% to reach a new high of RM82.6 billion, exceeding the RM80 billion mark for the first time. Imports grew by 39.4% to RM77.2 billion.” 

He added that all key markets registered double digit export growth in the first quarter of 2017, including Asean, which grew by 23.9% to RM66.44 billion, China (39.9% to RM29.1 billion), the USA (11.9% to RM21.33 billion), the European Union (22.2% to RM23.62 billion) and Japan (18.1% to RM20.42 billion). 

“On the regional front, despite the high rate of growth of Malaysia’s exports to Asean; efforts to address the issues surrounding non-tariff barriers and measures within Asean must continue,” he said, adding such efforts were in line with the Prime Minister Najib Razak’s emphasis on the need to have an Asean scorecard on these issues. 

“We could look to better numbers in terms of intra-Asean trade if these issues could be resolved,” said Mustapa. – May 6, 2017.