The FINANCIAL — Malaysia’s exports in May fell 6.7% from a year earlier, led by a decline in shipments of key commodities liquefied natural gas and palm oil, marking the second straight month of contraction, official data showed on July 3, according to Nasdaq.
A Wall Street Journal survey of nine economists projected exports to fall 8.7% year-over-year. In April, exports declined 8.8% from a year earlier after expanding 2.3% in March.
Exports totaled 60.45 billion ringgit ($16.09 billion) in May, compared with 64.82 billion ringgit last year, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a statement.
Shipments of electronic products, which make up about a third of total exports, slipped 0.6% in May, while exports of liquefied natural gas and palm oil fell 48% and 5.2%, respectively.
Exports to China, Malaysia’s largest trading partner, increased 5.8%, while exports to the U.S. dropped 4.8%. Exports to Japan plunged 31%.
Imports in May declined 7.2% year-over-year to 54.94 billion ringgit, the ministry said. Economists in the same WSJ poll had predicted imports to shrink 7.9%. This compares with April’s 7.0% year-over-year decline in imports.
The fall in May imports was led by intermediate goods, which decreased 8.4%, while capital-goods imports were 5.0% lower. Imports of consumption goods surged 27%.
Malaysia’s trade surplus in May narrowed to 5.51 billion ringgit from 6.87 billion ringgit in April, the ministry said.
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