KUALA LUMPUR – Trade performance for May this year maintain its stellar performance, recording its strongest rise since November 2021.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said that May 2022’s performance showed growth of 33.6%, bringing the amount to RM228.37 billion compared to May of 2021.
The ministry stated that this performance marks the 16th straight month that Malaysia saw a double-digit growth.
According to MITI, exports surged 30.5% to RM120.49 billion but the imports sector also marked growth of 37.3% recording RM107.88 billion. This resulted in the trade surplus declining by 8.3% (RM12.62 billion).
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali stated that there were three main categories of imports which are intermediate goods, parts and accessories of capital goods, and consumption goods which are mainly pharmaceutical products.
Each of them are valued at RM62.95 billion (58.4%), RM8.84 billion (8.2%) and RM8.51 billion (7.9%) of the total imports.
Exports were driven by higher demand for electrical and electronic (E&E) products, petroleum products, palm oil and palm oil based agriculture products, he stated.
Major markets that Malaysia exported to included ASEAN, China, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan. These recorded double-digit growth, he explained.
Furthermore, he highlighted that total trade had passed RM1 trillion in just five months, a record for the shortest period to reach this milestone.
Between the period of January and May this year, trade, exports, imports and trade surplus had also recorded the highest value, he added.
When compared to the same period last year, trade saw a 25.1% increase to RM1.085 trillion.
“Exports climbed 23.5% to RM592.97 billion while imports jumped 27.0% to RM491.85 billion,” he explained, adding that trade surplus increased by 9.0% to RM101.12 billion.
Manufactured goods top list of exports
In the MITI statement, Azmin explained that manufactured goods made up 83.3% of total exports. The sector grew by 27.3% year-on-year (Y-O-Y) to RM100.37 billion and marked the 10th straight month of a double-digit growth.
He said that E&E products, petroleum products and palm oil based manufactured products had each recorded more than RM1 billion growth, thus bolstering the sector’s overall performance.
The exports of agriculture goods (8.9%) saw a growth of 43.9% to RM10.77 billion compared to the same period in 2021. This was due to the higher demand of palm oil and palm oil based products.
The export of mining goods also increased by 54.9% to RM8.76 billion. This is the 14th consecutive month of a double-digit growth driven by liquefied natural gas and crude petroleum.
On the country’s trade performance with major markets, the minister stated that ASEAN made up 29.3% of May 2022’s total trade. This was a growth of 54.6% to RM66.99 billion Y-O-Y.
He said that exports grew by 44.2% to RM37 billion due to higher exports of E&E products and petroleum products, while imports from the ASEAN region rose by 69.7% to RM29.99 billion.
May 2022 also saw trade with China making up 16.3% of Malaysia’s total trade. This figure grew 11.1% Y-O-Y to RM37.17 billion and is the 18th consecutive month of double-digit growth with exports increasing 10.1% to RM15.27 billion as a result of the robust E&E product exports. Imports also grew 11.9% to RM21.89%.
Total trade with the United States made up 8.8% in May 2022. This grew by 22.0% Y-O-Y to RM20.06 billion. Exports increased by 15.5% to RM12 billion also on the strength of E&E products, while imports grew 33.1% to RM8.06 billion.
Trade with the European Union made up 7.6% of Malaysia’s total trade. It grew by 30% Y-O-Y to RM17.42 billion. Overall exports and imports both increased 30.2% to RM9.76 billion and 29.7% to RM7.66 billion respectively.
Japan made up 5.9% of the total trade. This shows a growth of 13.6% Y-O-Y to RM13.38 billion. May 2022’s exports to Japan grew 14% to RM6.97 billion while imports were up 13.3% to RM6.41 billion.
As for trade with the Free Trade Agreement partners, it accounted for 67.3% of Malaysia’s total trade in May this year. The amount grew 32.7% Y-O-Y to RM153.68 billion.
Exports with these partners grew 30.8% to RM81.95 billion while imports grew 35% to RM71.73 billion.
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