Malaysia's August Trade Surplus Widens To RM8.51 Billion

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) Malaysia's trade surplus in August rose to a whopping RM8.51 billion (RM4.16 = US$1) from RM1.91 billion registered in July 2016 due to a record increase in exports to Asean, India, United States, Mexico, Turkey, Hong Kong and the European Union. Malaysia's exports in August 2016 was at a eight-month record high of RM67.58 billion, up 1.5 per cent, from July's exports of RM59.8 billion, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said in a statement Friday. Imports were higher by 4.9 per cent to RM59.07 billion while trade registered a value of RM126.65 billion, an increase of three per cent. From January to August 2016, trade totalled RM948.45 billion, with exports amounting to RM500.33 billion and imports totalled RM448.12 billion. "Trade, exports and imports for this period registered a growth of 0.9 per cent, respectively. Trade surplus increased by 1.8 per cent to RM52.21 billion from RM51.28 billion," Miti added. Overall, the better export performance in August 2016 was reflected in the positive growth in manufactured and agricultural exports, compared to a contraction in July 2016. However, exports of mining goods, however, continued to decline. Exports of agricultural goods expanded 13.8 per cent to RM6.81 billion, boosted mainly by higher exports of palm oil and palm-based agriculture products, by RM867 million. "Exports of palm oil in August 2016 grew 19.9 per cent to RM4.32 billion, attributed to higher average unit value (AUV) and volume. "Exports of mining goods decreased 14 per cent to RM4.9 billion, affected mainly by the decline in exports of liquefied natural gas which contracted 38.9 per cent to RM1.89 billion, due to lower AUV and volume," it added. Exports to ASEAN remained strong and rose four per cent or RM769 million to reach RM20.02 billion in August 2016, accounting for 29.6 per cent of the country's total exports, expanding from 28.9 per cent registered in August last year. -- BERNAMA