Malaysia's exports rebound in August

Malaysia's exports rebounded by 1.5 percent to 67.58 billion ringgit (16.3 billion U.S. dollars) in August, recording the highest figure so far this year while improving from the 5.5 percent decline in July, latest figures showed Friday.

The rebound was supported mainly by higher exports to some of Malaysia's major trading partners including India, members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Better export performances were seen in the exports of manufactured and agricultural goods. Exports of mining goods continue to decline with a contraction of 14 percent in the month, affected mainly by the 38.9 percent drop of liquefied natural gas exports.

Malaysia's trade with China, its largest trading partner, grew by 8.5 percent to 21.72 billion ringgit (5.2 billion U.S. dollars), and accounted for 17.2 percent of Malaysia's total trade volume for the month.

Exports to China declined by 1.3 percent, but higher exports were registered for palm oil and palm-based agricultural products, chemicals and chemical products, LNG as well as rubber products. Meanwhile, Imports from China expanded by 17.2 percent.

Malaysia's imports in August increased by 4.9 percent to 59.07 billion ringgit (14.2 billion U.S. dollars), while the total trade figure was up by 3 percent to 126.65 billion ringgit (30.5 billion U.S. dollars).

For the first eight months of 2016, Malaysia's trade totaled at 948.45 billion ringgit (228.1 billion U.S. dollars) with exports and imports amounting to 500.33 billion ringgit (120.3 billion U.S. dollars) and 448.12 billion ringgit (107.8 billion U.S. dollars) respectively. All three categories recorded a 0.9 percent growth compared to the corresponding period of 2015.

Source : XINHUA