Malaysian exports up 26.5% year-on-year in February

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s exports expanded 26.5% year-on-year to RM71.8 billion in February, the strongest growth in close to seven years, which brought a widened trade surplus of RM8.7 billion, 18.5% higher than the same month a year ago.
On a month-on-month basis, exports rose 2.1% from RM70.3 billion.
Imports posted a strong year-on-year increase in February with a gain of 27.7% to RM63.1 billion, attributed to higher imports of intermediate goods and capital goods.
According to the Department of Statistics, total trade in February stood at RM134.8 billion, an expansion of RM28.7 billion or 27.1% from a year ago. However, it posted a decline of  RM968.7 million or 0.7% when compared with the previous month.
The increase in exports was driven by higher exports to China (+RM3.1 billion), Singapore (+RM2.0 billion), European Union (+RM1.6 billion), Indonesia (+RM1.5 billion) and Japan (+RM1.1 billion).
The higher exports were contributed by increases in electrical and electronic goods (+22.4%), palm oil and palm oil-based products (+62.8%), refined petroleum products (+29.8%), natural rubber (+85.5%), timber and timber-based products (+7.4%) and liquefied natural gas (+2.1%).
MIDF Research has revised upwards its export growth forecast to 8.5% from 3.0% previously for 2017 as Malaysia’s external trade is expected to perform better this year on the back of positive signs coming from the key global economic indicators.
“We believe external trade of Malaysia will record solid growth this year given the environment of global economy is sanguine,” it said in a research note yesterday.
The research house said that even though protectionism threat remains a global challenge, major economies are experiencing gradual recovery in external trade performance.
“Trend of commodity prices is expected to rise further at a modest pace which could translate into higher exports of commodity-based products,” it added.