KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Malaysia’s total exports rose 6.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January to RM89.6 billion from RM84.1 billion previously.

In a statement today, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in its external trade statistics for January 2021 said imports continued to record an increase of 1.3% to RM73.0 billion.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said Malaysia’s exports in January this year was the highest export value ever recorded for the month of January thus far.

He said the expansion in exports was driven by both domestic exports and re-exports.

Mohd Uzir said domestic exports stood at RM72.1 billion, contributing 80.5% to the total exports, growing by 6.3%.

On the other hand, he said the re-exports, which were valued at RM17.5 billion, went up by 7.5% y-o-y.

“Imports in January 2021 grew by 1.3% y-o-y to RM73.0 billion.

“Trade surplus soared by 38% to RM16.6 billion as compared to January 2020.

“Total trade which [is] valued at RM162.6 billion widened by 4.1% y-o-y,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said the expansion in exports was supported mainly by higher exports to China (RM2.7 billion), the United States (RM1.6 billion), Vietnam (RM1.2 billion), the European Union (RM821.3 million) and Singapore (RM621.0 million).

Meanwhile, increases in imports were mainly from Taiwan (RM1.0 billion), China (RM793.9 million), Hong Kong (RM686.1 million) and Indonesia (RM662.1 million).

He said the main products which contributed to the increase in exports were electrical and electronic products (RM4.2 billion), rubber products (RM4.1 billion), manufacture of metal (RM614.4 million), and chemicals and chemical products (RM448.9 million).

Meanwhile, expansion in imports were noted for electrical and electronic products (RM3.4 billion) and rubber products (RM623.9 million).