M'sia trade surplus surges in August

M'sia trade surplus surges in August

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade surplus in August rose 64.9 percent to 9.82 billion ringgit (US$2.6 billion) from the 5.96 billion ringgit achieved in July, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said on Tuesday.

The August trade surplus was also up 21.87 percent from August 2004. This marks the 94th consecutive month of trade surpluses since November 1997, it said in a statement.

Total exports in August rose 7 percent month-on-month to 46.63 billion ringgit and were also up 12.5 percent from a year earlier, it said.

The year-on-year increase in exports was supported mainly by higher exports of electrical and electronic products, transportation equipment, refined petroleum products, crude petroleum, palm oil and chemicals and chemical products.

Imports in August rose 10.3 percent year-on-year to 36.81 billion ringgit but were down 2.2 percent month-on-month, it said, attributing the month-on-month decline to lower imports of intermediate and capital goods.

Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the U.S., Japan, China, Hong Kong and the European Union were the country's major export markets, taking a combined 77.5 percent of Malaysia's total exports in August.

For the first eight months of the year, total exports stood at 343.53 billion ringgit, while imports were at 279.88 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of 63.65 billion. -- AFP