M'SIA RECORDS RM10.02 BLN TRADE SURPLUS FOR MAY

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM10.02 billion in May this year. It is the 139th consecutive monthly trade surplus since November 1997.

Total trade for the month was RM75.88 billion, up 1.4 percent from April, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said in its Malaysian External Trade Statistics preliminary release, here today. Exports in May expanded by 4.5 percent to RM42.95 billion compared with April while imports decreased by 2.3 percent to RM32.93 billion.

On a year-on-year basis, exports in May declined 29.7 percent while imports were lower by 27.8 percent.

Manufactured exports in May increased by 4.1 percent compared with the preceding month, mainly due to higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E)products, iron and steel products, non-metallic mineral products, transport equipment, chemicals and chemical products, wood products as well as processed food.

Major exports in May consisted of electrical and electronic products valued at RM17.79 billion, palm oil (RM3.03 billion), chemicals and chemical products(RM2.75 billion), crude petroleum (RM1.88 billion), liquefied natural gas (RM1.7 billion), refined petroleum products (RM1.56 billion), machinery, appliances and parts (RM1.44 billion), wood products (RM1.15 billion), manufacture of metal (RM1.12 billion) and rubber products (RM1.01 billion).

Singapore, China, the United States, Japan and Thailand were the top five export destinations, accounting for 51.1 percent of Malaysia's total exports in May. MITI said that imports in May declined by 27.8 percent to RM32.93 billion from a year ago due mainly to the fall in imports of intermediate goods.

The three main categories of imports by end use in May were intermediate goods at RM22.62 billion, capital goods (RM4.79 billion) and consumption goods (RM2.41 billion). Major imports in May comprised electrical and electronic products valued at RM12.5 billion, machinery, appliance and parts (RM2.9 billion), chemicals and chemical products(RM2.9 billion), refined petroleum products(RM976.8 million), manufacture of metal (RM1.68 billion), transport equipment (RM1.55 billion) and iron and steel products (RM1.16 billion).-- BERNAMA

PJR AS

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