Malaysia's external trade slides 6.7% in October

Imports similarly posted a decrease with 8.7% fall in the same month.

Whilst still on a downward trend, Malaysia’s 6.7% drop in exports prints in October was more muted than the expected 12.3% decrease, according to a report by OCBC bank. Furthermore, the export receipts’ total of MYR90.6b recorded as the highest in the last 12 months.

In terms of exports destination, shipments to the key markets of Singapore and US saw an increase of up to 4% YoY, whilst those to China declined by 11% YoY.
Meanwhile, the country’s imports similarly experienced as slide with a 8.7% fall in October YoY vs. the market’s expectation of 7% YoY.

There was a sequential pullback in imports of intermediate goods to MYR37.5b in October compared to close to 40bn in September. Capital goods’ imports on the other hand, saw a slight uptick to MYR8.5b, compared to September’s MYR7.9b, owing to an encouraging print in relation to investment activities, notes OCBC.

The counterbalance between strong exports, and weak imports gave the country a surplus in net trade balance, totalling MYR17.3b in October. This marks the highest monthly surplus since 1990.

OCBC revises down Malaysia’s 2020 GDP to 4.2% YoY, a little lower than the government’s expectation of 4.8, as little support is sighted to come from the exports sector for Malaysia’s growth in 2020.