PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s total trade remained on a double-digit growth path in August 2024, boosted by a thriving global economy, Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today,
Total trade last month increased to RM252.7 billion, a jump of 18.6% from RM213 billion in August 2023. The strong performance was primarily driven by growth in imports of 26.2%, which reached RM123.5 billion, and exports by 12.1%, valued at RM129.2 billion.
Mohd Uzir highlighted that Malaysia’s exports increased in August 2024 in tandem with the rise in domestic exports (82.3% to total exports), up by 15.5% to RM106.4 billion. However, re-exports (17.7% to total exports) were down by 1.2% compared to August 2023, to RM22.8 billion.
Meanwhile, imports were worth RM123.5 billion, an increase of 26.2%. The trade surplus decreased by 67.3% to RM5.7 billion. It was the 52nd consecutive month of surplus since May 2020.
Comparing with July 2024, exports, imports, total trade and trade balance recorded decreases of 1.5%, 1.0%, 1.2% and 11.5%, respectively.
From the perspective of commodity group, 169 out of 259 export groups and 197 out of 259 import groups showed an increase compared to the same month of the previous year.
Mohd Uzir said the increase in exports is attributable mainly to shipments to the United States (+RM6.1 billion), followed by Taiwan (+RM2.3 billion), Singapore (+RM2.1 billion), Indonesia (+RM1.5 billion), the European Union (+RM819.4 million), Hong Kong (+RM738.6 million) and China (+RM708.2 million).
Higher imports were mainly from the United States (+RM8.3 billion), followed by China (+RM5.5 billion), Taiwan (+RM3 billion), Indonesia (+RM1.2 billion), Japan (+RM1.1 billion), the European Union (+RM1 billion) and South Korea (+RM652.8 million).
Mohd Uzir said the rise in exports was in line with the increase in electrical & electronic products (+RM7.1 billion); other manufactures (+RM2.3 billion); palm oil & palm-based agriculture products (+RM1.1 billion); machinery, equipment & parts (+RM1.1 billion); optical & scientific equipment (+RM961.7 million); chemical & chemical products (+RM820.0 million); and rubber products (+RM781.5 million).
The increase in imports was contributed by electrical & electronic products (+RM13.7 billion); machinery, equipment & parts (+RM2.4 billion); other agriculture (+RM2.3 billion); chemical & chemical products (+RM1.6 billion); manufacture of metal (+RM963.1 million); and metalliferous ores & metal scrap (+RM692.6 million).
Mohd Uzir said the upsurge in imports by end-use was in accordance with higher demand for intermediate goods, capital goods and consumption goods.
Imports of intermediate goods (58.5% of total imports), valued at RM72.3 billion, registered an increase of 40.4% or RM20.8 billion compared to August 2023. Capital goods (12.1% of total imports), with a value of RM14.9 billion, rose by 39.6%. Consumption goods (8.4% of total imports), grew by 21.2% from RM8.5 billion in the previous year to RM10.3 billion.
Total trade, exports and imports for the period of January to August 2024 registered an increase of 10.9% to RM1.9 trillion from RM1.7 trillion in the corresponding period in 2023 in line with the rise in exports (+6%) and imports (+16.8%). On the contrary, the trade surplus of of RM78.2 billion was 49.2% lower compared to the same period in 2023.
