PETALING JAYA: Despite the Covid-19 doom and gloom, there was good news for Malaysia as exports rose by 4.3% in November compared to the same month last year, registering a total value of RM84.4 billion, said chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
-Advertisement-
It was third straight month to see higher exports compared to the corresponding month last year. In September, exports rose to RM88.9 billion, a 13.6% increase compared to last year. In October, it stood at RM91.1bil, a 0.2% increase from last year and a 2.4% increase from the earlier month.
Uzir said the external trade statistics, November 2020, shows the growth in exports was driven by re-exports, widening by 18.1% or RM15.4 billion of total exports.
Meanwhile, domestic exports, valued at RM69.1 billion, grew by 1.7% as compared to November 2019, he added.
However, Uzir said imports, which totalled at RM67.6 billion, continued to register a negative growth of 9%.
“This was the ninth consecutive month of decrease since March 2020. A significant decrease in imports has resulted in a higher trade surplus of RM16.8 billion,” he said.
-Advertisement-
With the challenging global economic conditions caused the pandemic, he said Malaysia’s total trade in November 2020 slipped by 2.0% from RM155.2 billion in November last year to RM152.0 billion.
The Statistics Department also reported that the expansion in exports was supported mainly by higher exports to the United States (+RM1.9 billion), Singapore (+RM1.8 billion), China (+RM1.7 billion), Hong Kong (+RM1.3 billion) and the European
Union (RM457.4 million).
Meanwhile, the decrease in imports were mainly from Singapore (-RM2.2 billion), the European Union (-RM1.1 billion), the United Arab Emirates (-RM846.3 million), China (-RM738.7 million) and the United States (-RM705.2 million).
The main sectors which contributed to the increase in exports were electrical and electronic products (+RM6.5 billion); rubber products (+RM2.9 billion) and palm oil-based agriculture products (+RM433.6 million).
The decrease in imports came from petroleum products (-RM4.1 billion); transport equipment (-RM1.1 billion); manufacture of metal (-RM629.7 million); machinery, equipment and parts (-RM563.1 million) and crude petroleum
(-RM499.8 million). – FMT