Malaysia's total trade in September this year improved 1.6 percent to RM119.72 billion ( about 3.72 billion U.S. dollars) from RM117.88 billion (about 36. 56 billion dollars) a year ago, according to official statistics.
The trade surplus was recorded at RM9.33 billion (about 2.91 billion dollars), said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in a statement Friday.
MITI said that increases in trade were recorded with Singapore which rose by RM1 billion (about 3.3 billion dollars), India RM861. 7 million (about 269 million dollars), Australia RM 806.2 million (about 251 million dollars), Saudi Arabia RM706.4 million(about 220 million dollars), Kuwait RM410.9 million(about 128 dollars) and China RM333.2 million(about 104 million dollars).
Exports of manufactured goods for the month rose by 2.2 percent to RM49.14 billion (about 15.35 billion dollars) compared with September 2013, driven by higher exports of electrical and electronics (E&E) products, it said.
Exports of agricultural goods rose 11 percent to RM6.57 billion (about 2.03 billion dollars), contributed mainly by higher exports of palm oil.
For the nine-month period of 2014, MITI noted that Malaysia's trade for the period has exceeded the RM1 trillion mark with total trade valued at RM1.078 trillion (about 0.31 trillion dollars).
The achievement was supported by strong demand from major markets, mainly the United States, the European Union, particularly the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, as well as ASEAN countries, the statement said.