Malaysia’s export dropped 3.1 percent in October from a year ago, which is its lowest level since June 2013, due to the lower demand from China and Japan and the fall in exports of petroleum and palm oil products.

October’s exports totalled 65.09 billion RM (18.83 billion USD) while it was 67.19 billion RM (19.22 billion USD) last year, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.

Exports to China, Japan and the EU shrank 18 percent, 4.7 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, goods destined to the US saw a 7.5 percent expansion.

Electronics, the country’s key export product which contributes to one-third of the total revenue, fell 4.5 percent whilst petroleum products plummeted further, 12 percent.

Meanwhile, the country’s imports in the month rose 9.1 percent from last year, which surprised estimations of a 1.3 percent decline, thanks to a respective expansion of 21 percent and 5.9 percent in intermediate and consumption goods imports.

Consequently, Malaysia’s trade surplus narrowed to 1.19 billion RM (340.5 million USD) in October from 9.33 billion RM (2.67 billion USD) in September and from the estimates of 8.9 billion RM (2.55 billion USD).-VNA