Malaysia’s exports recorded the third straight month of growth in August 2015 year-on-year since June 2015, expanding 4.1% or MYR2.64 billion (US$625.56 million) to MYR66.53 billion. This is the highest monthly export value recorded in 2015, according to data from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Expansion in exports to China, the U.S., European Union, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines supported growth in the month. Imports decreased by 6.1% to MYR56.34 billion, while trade registered a value of MYR122.86 billion.
Malaysia’s trade surplus widened to MYR10.19 billion in August 2015 from MYR2.37 billion in July 2015, making it the 214th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997, said the ministry.
In the first eight months of 2015, exports fell by 1.4% or MYR6.9 billion to MYR498.08 billion, while imports declined by 2% to MYR443.83 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2014. Trade surplus remained sizable at MYR54.25 billion. Total trade valued at MYR941.91 billion declined by 1.7% from MYR957.76 billion for January-August 2014.
Overall, in August 2015 exports of manufactured and agricultural goods continued to grow, while exports of mining goods remained on the decline.
Exports of manufactured goods rose 10.9% or MYR5.36 billion to MYR54.55 billion in August 2015. The increase was driven mainly by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, especially electronic integrated circuits. Exports of E&E products in August 2015 reached MYR25.08 billion, an increase of MYR3.58 billion or 16.7% from August 2014. Increases in exports were also recorded for other manufactured products in August.
Outward shipments of agricultural goods expanded by 5.5% to MYR5.98 billion, bolstered by the higher exports of palm oil.
Exports of mining goods decreased by 34.9% to MYR5.63 billion, affected by the decline in exports of liquefied natural gas and crude petroleum. Mining goods accounted for 8.5% of Malaysia’s total exports.
For the first eight months of 2015, exports of manufactured goods grew by 3% to MYR398.12 billion with 79.9% share of total exports. Exports of mining goods decreased by 22.7% to MYR53.64 billion, (10.8% share), and exports of agricultural goods went down by 5.2% to MYR43.29 billion, (8.7% share).
Industry’s output expands
Correspondingly, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) of Malaysia also increased, growing 3% in August 2015 compared to the same month a year ago, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said.
In a statement recently, the department said the expansion in August 2015 was supported by growth in manufacturing index (4.3) and electricity index (15.9%), according to a report by state-run news agency Bernama. However, the mining index decreased by 3.4%.
The IPI in July 2015 remained unchanged at 6.1% year-on-year.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the IPI in August 2015 slipped by 0.9% month-on-month as the mining index decreased by 10.2%.
Meantime, the index for manufacturing and electricity increased by 1.9% and 19.8%, respectively.
The department said the manufacturing sector output grew 4.3% in August 2015 after an increase of 4.2% in July 2015. The major sub-sectors which registered an expansion in August 2015 were electrical and electronics products (11.7%); food, beverages and tobacco (4.7%); and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (3.7%).
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output grew 1.9% in August 2015.
In the mining sector, the output decreased 3.4% in August 2015 compared with the same month in 2014. “This was due to the decline in the natural gas index (11.8 per cent), whilst the crude oil index improved by 4.4 per cent,” the department said.
In August 2015, on a seasonally adjusted terms, output for the mining sector declined 10.2% month-on-month.
The electricity sector’s output posted a strong growth of 15.9% in August 2015 on a yearly basis. In seasonally adjusted terms, the electricity sector output grew 19.8% t in August 2015 compared with the previous month.
The department said Malaysia’s IPI for the period of January to August 2015 expanded 5.1% compared to the same period a year ago. The increase was due to a rise in all three indices, namely manufacturing (4.7%); mining (6.8%) and electricity (3.5%), it said.
Photo: Intel Penang
