Malaysia's exports in February drop 7.7%

Malaysia's exports in February shrunk 7.7 percent year-on-year to 52.46 billion ringgit (17.12 billion U.S. dollars) due to shorter working days and festive season, according to figures released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry on Friday. Shipments of manufactured goods, which make up about two-thirds of total exports, declined by 12 percent while exports of agricultural goods decreased by 18.9 percent to 5.32 billion ringgit (1.74 billion U.S. dollars) on reduced palm oil and crude rubber exports led by lower prices. Exports of refined petroleum products meanwhile surged by 65.2 percent. Shipments to major export markets, China and Japan were trimmed by 15.8 percent and 7.5 percent respectively compared with last year largely due to decline in exports of electronic products. Exports to the European Union and the United States also pared down by 8.6 percent and 10.8 percent respectively. January's imports fell by 4.4 percent to 44.26 billion ringgit (14.44 billion U.S. dollars) compared with a year ago. Trade surplus in February was registered at 8.2 billion ringgit (2.68 billion U.S. dollars), wider than January's 3.27 billion ringgit (1.07 billion U.S dollars). Exports for the first two months of the year declined by 2.2 percent on an annual basis to 109.45 billion ringgit (35.72 billion U.S. dollars).