Foreign trade figures of Malaysia

Foreign Trade in Figures

Malaysia is well known for its openness to international trade, which represents roughly 132% of its GDP (World Bank, latest data available), making the country vulnerable to external demand. In 2023, Malaysia’s manufactured goods exports exceeded MYR 1 trillion for the third consecutive year, reaching MYR 1.217 trillion (85.4% of total exports). Electrical and electronic products (E&E) led with a 40.4% share, while mining and agriculture goods accounted for 7.4% and 6.6%, respectively. The top five manufactured exports in 2023, making up 63.4% of Malaysia’s total exports, were E&E products (MYR 575.45 billion, -3% y-o-y), petroleum products (MYR 143.49 billion, -11%), chemicals (MYR 71.46 billion, -11.3%), machinery and equipment (MYR 57.28 billion, -5.2%), and metal manufactures (MYR 56.33 billion, -11.4%). In 2023, the three main import categories accounted for 70.5% of total imports: intermediate goods (MYR 620.87 billion, 51.2% share, -12.1% y-o-y) due to lower non-transport capital goods imports; capital goods (MYR 128.83 billion, 10.6% share, +7.2%) driven by higher non-transport capital goods imports; and consumption goods (MYR 104.1 billion, 8.6% share, +0.1%) boosted by rising processed food and beverage imports (data Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation).

In terms of countries, the main export destinations were Singapore (15.4% of total exports), China (13.5%), the United States (11.3%), Hong Kong (6.3%), Japan (6.0%), and Thailand (4.1%); whereas imports came chiefly from China (the largest import source since 2011, accounting for 21.3% of the total), Singapore (11.9%), the United States (7.4%), Japan (5.9%), and Indonesia (5.0% - data Comtrade). ASEAN remained a key trading partner for Malaysia, taking up 27.3% of Malaysia’s total trade in 2023, while the EU accounted for 7.8%. The government supported the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free-trade agreement negotiated between Asia-Pacific and North American countries. The treaty, signed by Malaysia and eleven other nations in order to boost inter-regional trade, was renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the withdrawal of the United States in January 2017 and ratified by the Malaysian government in 2022. In 2020, Malaysia has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries. This free trade agreement is the largest trade deal in history, covering 30 per cent of the global economy. It includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea). The RCEP covers goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation. It also creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to WTO data, exports of goods amounted to USD 312.8 billion and imports reached USD 265.7 billion in 2023 (-11.1 and -9.5% y-o-y, respectively). With regard to services, Malaysia exported USD 42.5 billion (+34.2%) and imported USD 51.7 billion (+16%). The overall trade balance was estimated to be positive by 5.1% of GDP (from 7.2% one year earlier - World Bank). According to preliminary figures from Statistics Malaysia, exports, imports, and total trade for January to December 2024 increased by 5.7%, 13.2%, and 9.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year. However, the trade surplus fell by 36.4%.