Malaysia's Total Trade Grew 4.6 Pct In July

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's total trade in July 2015 grew by 4.6 per cent to US$29.17 billion (RM124.08 billion) year-on-year, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Friday. (US$1 = RM4.25) It said export for the month expanded by 3.5 per cent or RM2.12 billion to RM63.23 billion compared with July 2014 while imports increased by 5.9 per cent to RM60.85 billion. The expansion in exports to China, the United States, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and the European Union supported the higher growth in the month reviewed, it added. In July 2015, total trade with free trade agreement (FTA) partners was RM77.57 billion, up by 4.6 per cent with exports totalling RM40.03 billion and imports amounting to RM37.54 billion. Malaysia continued to register a trade surplus valued at RM2.38 billion in July 2015, making it the 213th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997. "The moderation in trade surplus reflected mainly the higher imports required for production and investment purposes which will contribute towards exports going forward," said MITI in its Malaysia External Trade Statistics report. Total trade for the first seven months of 2015 moderated to RM819.06 billion. Exports during the period contracted by 2.2 per cent to RM231.57 billion while imports declined by 1.4 per cent to RM387.49 billion to the corresponding period in 2014. Meanwhile, trade surplus remained sizeable at RM44.07 billion. "Similar moderation in trade performance was also registered by other countries in Asia," said MITI. Total trade with FTA partners was valued at RM515.13 billion, accounting for 62.9 per cent of Malaysia's trade during the first seven months of 2015. Overall, MITI said major manufacturing subsectors experienced positive growth on a year-on-year basis. Mining and major commodity subsectors had reduced exports due to significantly lower prices relative to last year. Major exports in July 2015 were electric and electrical products worth RM23.1 billion constituting 36.5 per cent of total exports, chemicals and chemical products (RM4.35 billion), palm oil (RM4.06 billion) and liquefied natural gas (RM3.09 billion). On a year-on-year basis, Malaysia's total trade with ASEAN remained firm at RM32.86 billion with higher imports from ASEAN of 2.6 per cent to RM15.51 billion. Exports to ASEAN amounted to RM17.35 billion, accounting for 27.4 per cent of Malaysia's total exports. -- BERNAMA