M'sia Trade to Hit RM1.5 Trn in 2017 - Minister Ong

SHAH ALAM (Selangor), Sept 7 (Bernama) -- International Trade and Industry Second Minister Ong Ka Chuan is confident that Malaysia's trade volume will hit RM1.5 trillion in 2017, surpassing last year's RM1.48 trillion. He expected the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector to remain the major contributor to the increase. "The E&E sector remains vibrant due to the rise in the Internet-of-Things (IoTs) and Industry 4.0," he told a press conference after visiting the Central i- City Shopping Centre here Thursday. Ong said the demand for E&E would stay vibrant until next year, as there was no sign of any slowdown at the moment. Statistics released by MITI Wednesday revealed that Malaysia's total trade for the first seven months of 2017 expanded 22.7 per cent to breach the RM1 trillion mark to RM1.008 trillion versus the corresponding period in 2016. Electric and electronics products led exports by increasing 21.6 per cent to RM189.52 billion in the first seven months of the year. On factors that contributed to improved performance in the first seven months of the year, Ong attributed it to higher palm oil consumption by China and Middle East countries. He said China recently shifted its edible oil consumption to palm oil, from soybean oil, and this helped boost Malaysia’s trade volume with the former. Ong expected a free trade agreement between Malaysia and Hong Kong to be concluded by year-end, which would pave the way for the country to register a better trade performance in the future. -- BERNAMA