Total trade up 8.7pc, thanks to Asia exports
Malaysia chalked an 8.7 per cent growth in its total trade for 2011, thanks to an Asia-driven export market, enabling the country to record an all-time high of RM1.27 trillion in total trade.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the strong trade performance was recorded despite the slow economic recovery in the US, uncertainties arising from the debt crisis in the eurozone, pockets of unrest in West Asia following the Arab Spring, supply chain disruptions due to the tsunami and earthquake in Japan and floods in Thailand.”
The growth figures also beat the five to six per cent official forecasts. Asian markets absorbed 71.3 per cent of the total exports, which remained focused largely on manufactured goods.
Mustapa expects total trade to grow by five to six per cent in 2012, after factoring in the risks from the eurozone debt crisis.
Services exports are projected to grow by 4.9 per cent this year.
“As East Asia is forecast to grow fastest, followed by South Asia, growth in Malaysia’s exports is expected to follow this path,” he told a media briefing yesterday.
China, Asean and India will continue to be the major drivers of export growth. For 2011, exports grew by 8.7 per cent to
RM694.55 billion while imports rose by 8.6 per cent to RM574.23 billion.
Exports in December beat market expectations and increased by 6.1 per cent due to nonelectrical and electronic (E&E) products while imports increased by 10.4 per cent.
Malaysia also achieved its 14th consecutive trade surplus since 1998, which was comparable to developed Singapore and South Korea.
For 2011, the minister said China had overtaken Singapore to become Malaysia’s largest export market, with a total value of RM91.25 billion.
Palm oil (47.4 per cent), crude rubber (62.7 per cent) and liquefied natural gas contributed to the increase in exports to China last year, he added.
Exports to Japan also rose last year, driven by higher demand for products to meet post-tsunami needs, especially for the construction of infrastructure and energy needs.
In the case of India, he said it was the only market that recorded a significant increase of RM1 billion in Malaysia's exports of E&E products, which forms the mainstay of Malaysia's manufacturing products.
On markets still stricken with uncertainties, such as the European Union, Mustapa said exports enjoyed a growth of 4.7 per cent, mostly on commodities such as palm oil and crude rubber.
In the case of the US, where the economic recovery was slow, export growth was also led by palm oil, although E&E exports declined.
Apart from tapping China's large appetite for Malaysian merchandise, Mustapa said his ministry was keen to increase the number of investments to Malaysia by leveraging on the 50-odd trade investment missions lined up this year.
To sustain export growth in 2012, the ministry will intensify export promotion programmes in these markets
Source : New Straits Times
Date : 10 February 2012
afternoon highlight (10/02/12/025/499)
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