The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was Malaysia’s biggest merchandise trade partner in 2013, and the country’s import and export trade with its ASEAN neighbors was almost balanced, according to Malaysia’s Department of Statistics.
The department said that last year, Malaysia’s biggest merchandise export market was ASEAN, which received 28.1 percent of the country’s total exports. Its other biggest export destinations for the period were China, representing 13.4 percent, Japan with 11.1 percent, EU-28 with 9.1 percent, U.S. with 8.1 percent, and Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) with 4.6 percent.
The ASEAN was also the country’s top import source in 2013, with a share of 26.7 percent of Malaysia’s overall import activity.
The next biggest import market was China with a 16.4 percent share, followed by EU-28 (10.8 percent), Japan (8.7 percent), the U.S. (7.9 percent), and ANZ (3 percent).
On foreign direct investments (FDIs) into ASEAN, the agency said Malaysia garnered the fourth largest share of investments poured into the economic bloc last year.
“The Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) Inflow of ASEAN registered a hefty USD122 billion in 2013,” said the department, noting that FDI flow into the region has grown fivefold since 1995.
The biggest recipient was Singapore (49.6 percent), followed by Indonesia (15.1 percent), and Thailand (10.6 percent), with Malaysia coming in fourth having a 10 percent FDI share.
As for the rest of the 10 ASEAN member-states, coming in fifth was Vietnam with 7.3 percent, then Philippines at sixth place with 3.2 percent. Rounding off the list were Myanmar with 2.1 percent, Cambodia 1 percent, Brunei Darussalam with 0.7 percent, and Lao PDR with 0.3 percent.
Photo: hafiz343
