Malaysia’s January 2016 exports fell 2.8% to RM61.9bil from a year ago, which was a disappointment when compared with a survey of a 2.5% increase.
The Statistics Department said on Friday on a month-on-month basis, exports also fell RM6.4bil (-9.4%) from RM68.3bil.
“In seasonally adjusted terms, exports decreased 7.4%,” it said.
The department said the decrease in exports was due to the decline in exports to Japan (-RM1.9bil), South Korea (-RM752.0mil), Taiwan (-RM512.6mil), Australia (-RM454.3mil) and Hong Kong (-RM346.8mil).
The decline in exports were due to liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude petroleum though there was an increase in electrical and electronic (E&E) products and palm oil and palm-based products.
It said total January imports rose 3.3% to RM56.5bil from a year ago, below the survey of a 4.9% increase. The increase in imports was attributed to intermediate goods and consumption goods.
However on a month-on-month basis, imports fell RM3.6bil (-6.0%) from RM60.1bill. In seasonally adjusted terms, imports decreased 3.2%.
Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM5.4bil in January, down 39.8% from RM9bil a year ago.
“When compared with the previous month, it (surplus) also posted a decrease of RM2.9bil or 34.6%,” said the department.
source: theStar