07/11/2011 (The Star) - Malaysia’s exports in September rose 16.6% year-on-year to RM58.68bil, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, said imports rose 12.9% to RM49.05bil. Total trade rose by 14.9% to RM107.73bil, with a trade surplus of RM9.63bil in September 2011.

From January to September, total trade expanded by 8.6% to RM937.9bil from a year ago. Exports increased 8.3% to RM513.5bil while imports rose by 8.9% to RM424.3bil, resulting in a trade surplus of RM89.2bil.

“The top export destinations for the period were mainly in Asia,” he said. In term of imports for the period, the main categories by end-use were intermediate goods valued at RM288.7bil, or 68% of total imports, capital goods at RM57.6bil or 13.6% of total imports, and consumption goods at RM29.64bil or 7% of total imports. Imports were mainly to meet requirements of investment-related projects, industrial production as well as infrastructure development needs of the country.

Mustapa said the main sources of imports were other Asian countries, the United States and Germany.

On a quarterly basis, total trade in the third quarter was higher by 2.8% at RM322.91bil. Both import and export grew by 3.4% and 2.1%, respectively.

Total exports in September grew by RM8.36bil, of which 50% was contributed by the growth in manufactured exports.

Exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products in September increased by RM510mil from September last year, contributed by higher exports of integrated circuits and transistors. Other E&E exports that grew were telecommunications equipment and parts, telephone sets and storage units for Automatic Data Processing (ADP) machines.

The growth in September E&E exports came from China, Singapore and France. The export of E&E products to Thailand expanded by 8.4%, or RM64.2mil, in September due to higher exports of parts and accessories for ADP, cathode ray tubes and TV-reception apparatus.

However, E&E exports to Thailand for October and November 2011 is expected to decline owing to the flood situation in the country.

E&E exports from January to September this year declined by 5.5% compared with the corresponding period of 2010, valued at RM177.25bil.

Rising prices coupled with continued demand for the major commodities, elevated September’s exports by RM3.94bil, above the value recorded in September 2010.

Exports of major commodities that expanded during the first nine months of 2011 were palm oil which was up by RM14.27bil, refined petroleum products (up by RM6.62bil) LNG (up by RM5.51bil) and crude rubber with an improvement of RM3.95bil.

Asean continued to provide a strong regional base for Malaysia, with exports increasing by 10.6% in September from a year ago.

Exports to ASEAN amounted to RM13.71bil, accounting for 23.4%of Malaysia’s total exports in September.

Meanwhile, exports to European Union increased by 7.6% to RM5.87bil, despite the crisis in the Euro zone. The increase in exports was attributed to higher exports of crude rubber, palm oil and manufactures of metal.

In September, exports to US increased by 8.7% year-on-year to RM4.96bil. However, the outlook for the US’ economy still seems gloomy. Overasll it is expected that Malaysi’s exports to the US in 2011 will experience negative growth.