KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade growth fell by 14.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2023 to RM198.0 billion amidst global economic uncertainties.
During the same month, the export value also decreased by 17.4 per cent y-o-y to RM105.4 billion, while the import value shrank 11.1 per cent y-o-y to RM92.6 billion, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the decline in Malaysia's export performance was due to lower domestic exports.
"Domestic exports, which accounted for 76.3 per cent of total exports, slipped by 22.3 per cent y-o-y to RM80.4 billion.
"Conversely, re-exports strengthened by 3.8 per cent y-o-y to RM25.0 billion,” he said.
Meanwhile, imports in April 2023 also recorded an 11.1 per cent decline to RM92.6 billion from RM104.1 billion in April 2022.
Total trade decreased 14.5 per cent y-o-y to RM198.0 billion from RM103.5 billion in April 2022, and the trade surplus declined 45.3 per cent y-o-y to RM12.8 billion.
In terms of commodities, 191 out of 256 export groups and 167 out of 259 import groups showed a decrease in their performance compared to April 2022.
DoSM reported that the reduction in exports was mainly contributed by the European Union (-RM3.5 billion), followed by China (-RM3.4 billion), the United States (-RM3.1 billion), Taiwan (-RM1.9 billion), Japan (-RM1.6 billion), India (-RM1.5 billion), Vietnam (-RM1.4 billion) and Thailand (-RM1.3 billion).
Meanwhile, the contraction in imports was mainly attributed to the decline in imports from Indonesia (-RM3.0 billion), Japan (-RM2.1 billion), China (-RM1.7 billion), Taiwan (-RM1.4 billion) and the United States (-RM1.2 billion).
Mohd Uzir said the fall in exports was due to the decline in exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products (-RM3.1 billion), palm oil and palm oil-based agricultural products (-RM2.6 billion); manufacture of metal (-RM2.5 billion), chemical and chemical products (-RM2.4 billion), palm oil-based manufactured products (-RM1.7 billion), rubber products (-RM1.6 billion) and machinery, equipment and parts (-RM1.4 billion).
Meanwhile, the contraction in imports was recorded in E&E products (-RM4.5 billion), crude petroleum (-RM1.9 billion), chemical and chemical products (-RM1.8 billion), metalliferous ores and metal scrap (-RM1.6 billion) and other mining (-RM836.7 million).
On the same note, the decrease in imports by End Users was attributed to lower demand for intermediate goods as well as consumption goods, as imports of the former fell by 24.2 per cent y-o-y to RM45.3 billion and imports of the latter eased by 1.6 per cent y-o-y to RM8.2 billion.
On the other hand, imports of capital goods recorded an 11.8 per cent y-oy increase to RM10.2 billion from RM9.1 billion previously. - Bernama
