KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade remained robust in July 2024, growing by 18.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY), the fastest rate in 21 months.
In a statement today, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) said in terms of value, it reached RM255.88 billion, marking the highest trade value since Oct 2022.
Exports continued its upward trajectory for the fourth consecutive month, expanding by 12.3 per cent to RM131.15 billion while imports increased by 25.4 per cent to RM124.73 billion.
The trade surplus amounted to RM6.42 billion, marking the 51st consecutive month of surplus since May 2020.
According to Miti, export growth was primarily driven by increased demand for palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, machinery, equipment and parts, petroleum products as well as electrical and electronic (E&E) products.
In terms of markets, exports to major trading partners namely Asean, the United States (US), the European Union (EU) and Taiwan recorded double-digit growth.
Compared with June 2024, trade, exports and imports grew by 7.6 per cent, 4.1 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively.
Miti said in the first seven months of 2024, trade expanded by 9.8 per cent to RM1.652 trillion compared to the same period in 2023, marking the highest periodic trade value ever.
Exports increased by 5.1 per cent to RM862.23 billion and imports by 15.5 per cent to RM789.71 billion.
Trade surplus of RM72.52 billion was registered for the period.
Miti said the strong expansion for the second consecutive quarter this year (2Q24) paves the way for the country to achieve Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) GDP forecast of four per cent to five per cent for 2024.
Malaysia recorded robust gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.9 per cent in 2Q24.
The ministry said this will enhance investor confidence and unlock further trade opportunities.
Meanwhile, Miti said the World Trade Organisation(WTO) has forecast that the volume of world merchandise (goods) trade would grow 2.6 per cent in 2024, a substantial rise from negative growth of 1.2 per cent recorded in 2023. "Global economic conditions seem to have improved month by month, attributed to increased global demand, although the WTO has cautioned that geopolitical tensions and political uncertainty may limit the scale of the global trade recovery."
"Miti and its agencies will continue to remain vigilant to global external shocks which could impact Malaysia's growth trajectory," it said.