KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Malaysia’s trade performance remained strong in April 2021, growing by 43.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM190.76 billion — a new record high in terms of trade, exports and imports monthly value.

In a statement today, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said exports remained above RM100 billion for two consecutive months, surging by 63 per cent to RM105.62 billion during the month. 

“This was the fastest growth since February 1998, marking the eighth consecutive month of y-o-y expansion since September 2020.

“Imports increased by 24.4 per cent to RM85.14 billion and trade surplus surged by 663.5 per cent to RM20.48 billion,” it said.

Miti said the expansion in exports was sustained by higher global demand, primarily for electrical and electronic (E&E) products (mainly semiconductors, in tandem with increasing digitalisation and 5G technology development), rubber products as well as petroleum products.

It said exports to all major markets — Asean, China, the United States (US), the European Union (EU) and Japan — registered positive growth.

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, the ministry said trade, exports and imports grew by 2.7 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, while trade surplus decreased by 15.4 per cent.

Miti said in the first four months of 2021, trade grew by 21.4 per cent y-o-y to RM696.46 billion.

Exports increased by 27.8 per cent to RM387.81 billion and imports rose by 14.3 per cent to RM308.65 billion, while trade surplus surged by 137.5 per cent to RM79.16 billion.

In April 2021, Miti said all the products recorded positive growth, except liquefied natural gas (LNG) and transport equipment.

“Exports of manufactured goods, which accounted for 86.3 per cent of total exports, surged by 64.5 per cent y-o-y to RM91.1 billion — the fastest growth recorded in 22 years,” it said.

It noted that robust growth was recorded for all manufactured products, excluding transport equipment.

“The expansion was mainly due to strong demand for E&E products, rubber products, petroleum products, manufactures of metal as well as machinery, equipment and parts.

“Rubber products and petroleum products recorded the highest export value thus far,” it said.

Meanwhile, exports of agriculture goods (7.4 per cent share) surged by 66.9 per cent y-o-y to RM7.85 billion, mainly driven by higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Miti said exports of mining goods (5.4 per cent share) rebounded by 24.5 per cent y-o-y to RM5.67 billion after registering negative growth since July 2019 — mainly attributed to higher exports of crude petroleum, petroleum condensates and other petroleum oil, as well as metalliferous ores and metal scrap.

Trade with Asean grew by 64.7 per cent y-o-y to RM49.85 billion in April 2021, contributing 26.1 per cent to Malaysia’s total trade.

“Exports to Asean expanded by 58.6 per cent to RM30.52 billion, maintaining a double-digit growth since February 2021.

The expansion was contributed by higher exports of E&E products, petroleum products as well as machinery, equipment and parts.

“Imports from Asean increased by 75.4 per cent to RM19.33 billion,” it added. — Bernama