In a noteworthy development for the Malaysian economy, strong outbound shipments of manufactured products have driven Malaysia's goods exports to witness a remarkable growth of 12.3% year-over-year in July, reaching a total of 131.1 billion ringgits. Concurrently, the country experienced a significant increase in goods imports, which surged by 25.4% to 124.7 billion ringgits over the same 12-month period, according to the Department of Statistics released on Monday. This data resulted in a trade surplus of 6.4 billion ringgits for the month of July, further highlighting the bullish trajectory of Malaysia’s trade landscape. On a seasonally adjusted basis, July's exports have shown a month-over-month increase of 4.1% from June, while imports climbed by 11.6%.
The robust performance is underpinned by the resilient export of manufactured goods, which account for over 85% of the nation's total exports, reflecting a 10.6% increase year-over-year—resetting its trend for the fifth consecutive month. This growth can be attributed to a notable rise in the export of machinery, equipment, petroleum products, electronics goods, and fabricated metal, as reported separately by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (METDC), a key government agency.
Additionally, exports to fellow ASEAN nations showed remarkable performance with a year-over-year increase of 16.8% in July, amounting to 71.07 billion ringgits. Malaysia includes several countries in its ASEAN trade definition, which encompasses Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. A particularly striking achievement was Malaysia's exports to the United States, which skyrocketed by 49.4% in July, heavily steered by both manufactured and agricultural products, palm oil being a significant contributor.
Exports to China also demonstrated steady growth, increasing by 12.6% year-over-year in July. The international trade outlook for Malaysia appears decidedly optimistic, as stated by the METDC. According to their insights, "Malaysia recorded robust Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 5.9% in the second quarter of 2024.
This sustained expansion sets the stage for the country to achieve Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) GDP forecast of between 4.0% to 5.0% for 2024. Such growth is anticipated to bolster investor confidence and unlock additional trade opportunities." Moreover, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has projected that world goods trade will expand by 2.6% in 2024, a notable rebound from the negative growth of 1.2% recorded in 2023, reinforcing the positive trends seen in Malaysia’s trade performance as reported by METDC..