KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Statistics reported that owing to durable trade performance in April. The Southeast Asian nation Malaysia bested themselves by attaining RM 105.6 billion and RM 85.1 billion in exports and imports, respectively. On the route to recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Statistics announced a trade surplus of RM 20.5 billion.
According to the Chief Statistician, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, the lively Malaysian exports rose to RM 105.6 billion in April 2021. Which shows a 63% increase year-on-year, in contrast to a 31.1% increment in the previous month. Domestic exports and re-exports were the driving force behind the recent growth. About 80.5% of total exports were due to domestic exports. Which were valued at RM 85 billion increasing by 84%. In addition, an 11% increase in re-exports valued it at RM 20.6 billion.
On the contrary, the government saw a 24.4% increment in imports valued at RM 85.1 billion in April 2021. In April 2021, total trade, valued at RM 190.8 billion, spiked by 43.2% compared to April 2020. Mohd Uzir shared details on exports by mentioning that there were increased exports to the United States (+RM6.8bil), Singapore (+RM5.5bil), the European Union (+RM4.1bil), China (+RM3.4bil), and India (+RM2.7bil).
China (+RM6bil), Singapore (+RM4bil), Japan (+RM2.3bil), Indonesia (+RM1.8bil), and Thailand (+RM1.6bil) were the source of increased imports. The Chief Statistician also
mentioned the electrical and electronic products or E&E (+RM11.2bil); rubber products (+RM5.1bil); petroleum products (+RM4.6bil); manufacture of metal (+RM3bil); machinery, equipment, and parts (+RM2.8bil) as the other driving forces behind the progress in exports.
Palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products (+RM2.5bil) oversaw the surge in commodity exports. Meanwhile, E&E (+RM5.8bil); petroleum products (+RM4.3bil), chemical and chemical products (+RM2bil); crude petroleum (+RM1.4bil); manufacture of metal (+RM1.3bil), and iron and steel products (+RM1bi) contributed to the increase in Malaysian imports. Imports of intermediate goods amounted to 54.6% of the total imports. Indicating a significant rise of 64.4% or RM 18.2 billion as per Mohd Uzir’s statement.
About 8.9% of total imports were due to consumer goods which increased to RM 7.6 billion from RM 5.8 billion (29.9% increase). Yet, compared to April 2020, the imports of capital goods decreased from RM 15 billion to RM 9.3 billion, which shows a 38.2% fall.
