Malaysia's 2014 trade surplus registered a growth of 16.6 percent, a remarkable achievement compared with the two previous years, said Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

The growth impetus in exports resulted in a trade surplus of 83.11 billion RM, representing Malaysia's achievement of 17 consecutive years of trade surplus, the Malaysian News Agency Bernama quoted the minister as saying.

He said exports in 2014 rose by 6.4 percent or 766.13 billion RM, surpassing the forecast export growth of 6 percent in the 2014/2015 Economic Report.

The minister noted that the country's total trade expanded by 5.9 percent to reach 1.45 trillion RM in 2014 compared with 1.37 trillion RM in 2013.

He said major trading partners that contributed to the growth in trade were ASEAN countries, which grew by 14.54 billion RM or 3.9 percent.

It was followed by the European Union (8.35 billion RM or 6.2 percent), the United States (8.01 billion RM or 7.4 percent) and Australia (7.48 billion RM or 16.4 percent).

He added that with the exception of export commodities such as palm oil and rubber, other exports to China continued to be sustained.

He also said there were 16 markets which registered export value of over 1 billion RM.

They were Singapore, the United States, India, Hong Kong (China), Australia, Japan, Taiwan (China), the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Kenya, Germany, Norway, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Besides, trade with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries registered a growth of 3.9 percent to 906.6 billion RM.-VNA