This was the 20th consecutive year of trade surplus since 1998,” said MITI.China continued to be Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the ninth consecutive year since 2009. In 2017, Malaysia’s trade with China increased by 20.6% to RM290.65bil.Exports to China rose 28% to RM126.15bil while imports rose by 15.5% to RM164.5bil. Higher exports were recorded for E&E products, petroleum products, rubber products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), chemicals and chemical products, optical and scientific equipment, manufactures of metal as well as natural rubber.MITI also said China remained as Malaysia’s largest import source with 19.6% share of total imports in 2017. Domestic exports grew 4.5% to RM67.2bil.On a y-o-y basis, export growth was supported by expansion in exports to Hong Kong (+RM1.6bil), China(+RM1.3bil), European Union (+RM853mil), Vietnam (+RM589.7mil) and South Korea (+RM512.5mil).On a y-o-y basis, imports expanded 7.9% or RM5.2bil to RM72.1bil. On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, exports decreased 5% to RM4.2bil from RM83.5bil.

Source: The Star February 07, 2018 07:21 UTC