Malaysia's October exports up 0.2 pct year-on-year

Malaysia's exports rose 0.2 percent to 91.05 billion ringgits (22.36 billion U.S. dollars) in October from a year ago, largely due to increased exports to the United States, China, India and Britain, official data showed Friday.

Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a statement that meanwhile, imports fell by 6 percent to 68.93 billion ringgits while total trade contracted by 2.5 percent to 159.98 billion ringgits.

Exports of manufactured goods in October which contributed to 87.8 percent of the total exports increased by 2.5 percent year on year, mainly due to increased exports of rubber products, electrical and electronic (E&E) products, solid-state storage devices, and iron and steel products among others, said the ministry.

Exports of agricultural goods surged by 28.7 percent compared to October 2019, boosted mainly by increased shipments of palm oil and palm oil-based agricultural products.

The ministry said Malaysia's exports to China increased by 4.9 percent to 14.27 billion ringgits mainly due to increased exports of E&E products, iron and steel products, and rubber products among others.

It said that trade with China in October rose 5.4 percent year on year to 28.97 billion ringgits, accounting for 18.1 percent of Malaysia's total trade. And Malaysia's imports from China in October expanded by 5.9 percent to 14.7 billion ringgits.

For the first 10 months of 2020, Malaysia's total trade declined by 4.9 percent to 1.454 trillion ringgits, with exports slipping by 3.3 percent to 800.59 billion ringgits and imports falling by 6.8 percent to 653.55 billion ringgits.

The ministry said that trade with China during the period rose 3.2 percent to 266.12 billion ringgits compared to the same period of 2019, with exports to China expanding by 12.3 percent to 128.81 billion ringgits, and imports from China falling by 4.1 percent to 137.31 billion ringgits. (1 U.S. dollar equals 4.07 ringgits) Enditem