KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total trade grew by 1.9 per cent to RM120.54 billion in June 2015 compared with RM118.35 billion recorded in the same month last year, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) in its Malaysia External Trade Statistics reports.
In a statement on Wednesday, Miti said of the total trade, exports increased by five per cent to RM64.26 billion while imports eased 1.5 per cent to RM56.28 billion, giving a surplus of RM7.98 billion.
Trade in June 2015 was 4.5 per cent higher from RM115.40 billion in May.
During the month, higher exports were recorded with China (+RM1.6 billion), Taiwan (+RM435.1 million), US (+RM393.6 million), Hong Kong (+RM288.2 million) and Indonesia (+RM219.4 million).
On the accmulative six-month basis, total trade decreased by 2.9 per cent to RM694.98 billion, of which exports were down 3.1 per cent to RM368.33 billion while imports declined 2.6 per cent to RM326.64 billion.
Miti said Malaysia’s export performance contracted in the first half of 2015, in line with the weak global demand and subdued commodity prices.
“This trend was in line with the trade performance of regional economies,” it said.
Miti said trade with the free trade agreement partner countries expanded 63 per cent to RM437.56 billion, with exports valued at RM232.1 billion while imports were worth RM205.46 billion.
“Trade with Asean fell 2.3 per cent to RM189.48 billion with exports and imports valued at RM103.84 billion and RM85.64, respectively, accounting for a 27.3 per cent share of total trade,” it said.
Miti said the higher exports to Asean were contributed by electrical and electronic products, crude petroleum, chemicals and chemicals products, as well as machinery, appliances and parts.
