Malaysia's foreign trade nears 50 billion USD in January

A man brows through shelves in a supermarket. (Photo: Bernama)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s foreign trade turnover hit 203.05 billion RM (48.6 billion USD) in the first month of 2022, up 24.8 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Of the total, the export and import values were 110.73 billion RM and 92.32 billion RM, annual increases of 23.5 and 26.4 percent, respectively. As a result, the January trade surplus stood at 18.4 billion RM, 10.9 percent higher than the figure of the same month last year.

Malaysia’s export expansion was underpinned by higher global demand primarily for electrical and electronic (E&E) products as well as palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Overseas shipments of manufactured goods, which accounted for 85.5 percent of the total exports, rose 19.3 percent to 94.67 billion RM, recording double-digit growth for the sixth consecutive month since August 2021.

The country’s exports to major trading partners, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, the US, the European Union (EU), and Japan, also recorded double-digit growth./.

VNA