KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia–Malaysia’s trade surplus widened in May from the previous month, but exports and imports fell from a year earlier, mainly due to lower shipments of palm oil, palm oil-based agriculture products and electrical products.
The Southeast Asian nation reported a trade surplus of 15.42 billion ringgit ($3.33 billion), compared with MYR12.85 billion in April.
“Compared to April 2023, trade, exports, imports and trade surplus recorded double-digit expansion of 13.2%, 13.7%, 12.6% and 22.1%, respectively,” the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
Compared with the previous year, exports declined 0.7% in May to MYR119.61 billion, while imports fell 3.3% to MYR104.19 billion, the data showed.
Exports were expected to have dropped 10.3% from the year-earlier period, while imports were projected to have fallen 13.8%, resulting in a trade surplus of MYR15.16 billion, according to the median forecast in a Wall Street Journal poll.
May’s exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products were 39.2% lower, while exports of electrical and electronic products rose 1.3% and exports of petroleum products climbed 10.5%, the data showed.
Imports of electrical products declined 19.7%, while imports of petroleum products climbed 9.2%, the ministry said.
Shipments to China rose 1.5% to MYR15.49 billion, while exports to the U.S. jumped 14.9% to MYR13.77 billion.
Below are the figures for Malaysia’s trade with its five largest export and import trading partners in May:
Exports Value (MYR Millions) % Change YoY Total 119,607 -0.7 Singapore 19,598 6.8 China 15,487 1.5 USA 13,770 15 Japan 7,172 2.1 Hong Kong 7,012 -8.5 Imports Value (MYR Millions) % Change YoY Total 104,188 -3.3 China 21,582 -1.4 Singapore 13,602 9.1 USA 7,134 -11 Taiwan 7,118 -15 Japan 6,283 -1.9
Write to Ying Xian Wong at yingxian.wong@wsj.com
Read the full article here