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PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s total trade increased 2.1% to RM244.3 billion in October 2024, up from RM239.3 billion a year earlier, driven by growth in both exports and imports, said the statistics department.
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin reported that exports grew by 1.6%, or RM2 billion, while imports increased by 2.6% to RM116.1 billion.
“Malaysia’s exports increased in line with the growth in domestic exports in October 2024.
“Domestic exports, which accounted for 77.6% of total exports, increased by 3.1% compared to October 2023, reaching RM99.4 billion.
“Meanwhile, re-exports, which made up 22.4% of total exports, declined by 3.5% to RM28.7 billion,” he said in a statement.
Similarly, imports increased by 2.6% to RM116.1 billion.
The trade surplus, however, fell by 7.6% to RM12 billion, marking the 54th consecutive month of surplus since May 2020.
Month-on-month (m-o-m), Uzir noted that exports, imports, and total trade saw increases of 3.7%, 4.8%, and 4.2%, respectively.
Conversely, the trade balance decreased by 6.2% m-o-m.
As for the period from January to October 2024, total trade, exports, and imports also posted growth.
“Total trade grew by 9.3% to RM2.4 trillion from RM2.2 trillion, in line with the rise in exports (+4.8%) as well as imports (+14.6%).
“On the contrary, the trade surplus decreased by 46.3% as compared to the same period in 2023 to post a value of RM102.8 billion,” he added.