MITI: Total trade in October 2017 surged by 19.8 percent

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) today announced Malaysia's external trade statistics.

This periodical announcement see the country's total trade in October 2017 surged by 19.8 percent to RM154.26 billion compared with the year before.

The main contributors to the growth were trade with ASEAN, China, the United States of America (USA), Hong Kong SAR, Japan, the European Union (EU) and Taiwan.

Exports in October 2017 rose significantly by 18.9 percent to RM82.41 billion, exceeding RM80 billion mark for the third time in 2017. Imports rose by 20.9 percent to RM71.85 billion. Trade surplus widened to RM10.56 billion, the highest value since April 2016, making it the 240th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, total trade, exports and imports expanded by 4.3percent, 5.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Total trade for the first ten months of 2017 amounted to RM1.465 trillion, grew by 21.5 percent compared with the same period of 2016. Exports totalled RM772.66 billion, an increase of 21.1 percent while imports stood at RM692.51 billion, rose by 21.9 percent. Trade surplus of RM80.15 billion was recorded, higher by 14.4 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2016.