KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total trade contracted six per cent in June 2019 to RM142.08 billion as compared to the same month a year ago.
The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) said lower trade was recorded with China, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, Singapore and Japan for the month.
Exports in June amounted to RM76.17 billion, contracted by 3.1 per cent compared with June 2018, while imports decreased by 9.2 per cent to RM65.91 billion.
However, Malaysia registered a trade surplus of RM10.26 billion in June 2019, the 260th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, trade surplus recorded a double-digit growth of 13.1 per cent while total trade, exports and imports were down by 10.8 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 12.2 per cent, respectively.
Total trade for the second quarter (Q2) of 2019 was valued at RM460.78 billion, declined by 0.4 per cent compared to RM462.8 billion in Q2 2018.
Exports totalled RM245.46 billion, an increase of 0.2 per cent while imports amounted to RM215.32 billion, contracting by 1.2 per cent. A trade surplus of RM30.15 billion was recorded for the period, a growth of 11.1 per cent.
Compared to Q1 2019, total trade, exports and imports rose by 5.9 per cent, 4.0 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively. Trade surplus declined by 18.4 per cent.
For the first half (H1) of 2019, exports declined by 0.2 per cent to RM481.53 billion and imports decreased by 1.8 per cent to RM414.42 billion compared to the same period of 2018.
Total trade contracted by one per cent to RM895.95 billion while trade surplus expanded by 10.9 per cent to RM67.1 billion.
Matrade said exports of manufactured goods in June 2019 which made up 83.7 per cent of total exports declined by five per cent to RM63.79 billion.
“The contraction was due mainly to lower exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, manufactures of metal, machinery, equipment and parts, rubber products and wood products,” it said.
Exports of mining goods (9.1 per cent share) increased by 15.4 per cent to RM6.96 billion, attributed to higher exports of crude petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“The expansion in exports of crude petroleum was due to higher volume and Average Unit Value (AUV) while LNG was attributed to higher volume,” it said.
Exports of agriculture goods (6.3 per cent share) reduced by 0.8 per cent to RM4.82 billion. Exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products increased, primarily palm oil which rose by 7.9 per cent to RM2.83 billion following higher volume.