MALAYSIA'S TRADE RESULTS RECORDS 2.4% DIP TO RM231.8 BILLION IN NOV 2023: DOSM

Malaysia's total trade recorded a decline, shrinking by 2.4% or RM5.8 billion in November 2023 to post a value of RM231.8 billion as compared to RM237.6 billion in the same month of 2022.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released its Monthly External Trade Statistics For November 2023 on 19th December which showed that the value of exports and trade surplus also experienced a drop, flatten by 5.9% and 43.1% respectively, year-on-year (y-o-y).

Meanwhile, imports increased by 1.7% or RM1.8 billion to RM109.7 billion.

In comparison to October 2023, exports, imports, total trade and trade surplus recorded negative growth of 3.2%, 3.1%, 3.1% and 3.8%, respectively.

The performance of exports, imports and total trade also recorded a fall for the period of January to November 2023 as compared to the same period of the preceding year.

Exports shrank 7.8% to RM1.3 trillion while imports decreased to RM1.1 trillion (-7.1%). Concurrently, total trade decreased by 7.5% to RM2.4 trillion, while trade surplus was valued at RM202.5 billion, edged down by 11.3%.

Performance of Exports

Malaysia's exports posted a reduction of 5.9% as compared to the same month of 2022, corresponded with the decline in domestic exports. Domestic exports accounted for 78.5% of total exports, declined by 7.4% y-o-y from RM103.5 billion to RM95.9 billion.

Meanwhile, re-exports valued at RM26.2 billion, constituted 21.5% of total exports, increased by 0.1% from RM26.2 billion in the previous year.

On a monthly basis (m-o-m), exports decreased by 3.2% or RM4.0 billion. With regards to analysis of the seasonally adjusted terms m-o-m, exports weighed up at 2.0% to RM124.1 billion.

Performance of Imports

Malaysia's imports showed a rise from RM107.9 billion in November 2022 to RM109.7 billion, increased 1.7% or RM1.8 billion. On a m-o-m basis, imports shrank by 3.1% or RM3.5 billion as compared to RM113.2 billion in October 2023.

On a y-o-y basis, capital goods and consumption goods increased by 53.3% and 2.2%, respectively. In the meanwhile, imports for intermediate goods experienced a decline of 5.2%.