Malaysia's exports slump 14.9 pct in December

Agence France-Presse - 2/12/2009 5:13 AM GMT

Malaysia's exports slump 14.9 pct in December

Malaysia's exports slumped 14.9 percent year on year in December, as demand from China, Europe and the United States declined sharply, according to official data released Thursday.

Imports crashed 23.1 percent as consumers reined in spending due to a looming recession, which the government is attempting to fend off with a 2.0 billion dollar stimulus package, while a second is in the works.

The trade ministry said that in December total trade was worth 80.51 billion ringgit (22.34 billion dollars), a fall of 18.6 percent from a year ago.

However, Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of 11.67 billion dollars in the month, continuing an unbroken series of surpluses since November 1997.

The exports contraction was much sharper than expected, and was mostly due to falling demand for electrical and electronics goods, which account for nearly half of all exports. The sector fell 25.6 percent from a year ago.

Chemical and chemical products exports dropped 28 percent while palm oil exports eased 6.1 percent.

For 2008, Malaysia's total trade reached 1.185 trillion, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2007. Exports rose by 9.6 percent to 663.51 billion ringgit while imports increased 3.3 percent to 521.5 billion ringgit.

Malaysian exports fell 4.9 percent in November and 2.6 percent in October.

In December, exports to the US dropped to 5.5 billion ringgit from 7.88 billion ringgit a year ago, "due mainly to a decline in exports of electrical and electronic products", the trade ministry said in a statement.

Lower exports to Europe, which fell to 5.42 billion ringgit from 6.55 billion ringgit, were also blamed on lack of demand for electronics and electronic products, "as well as chemicals and chemical products".

China exports slumped to 3.68 billion ringgit from 5.24 billion ringgit with a decline in demand for a large range of products including electricals, palm oil, crude rubber and rubber products, and refined and crude petroleum.

The New Straits Times said that economists it polled had expected exports to shrink by an average 9.45 percent in December, and imports to fall by 12.65 percent.

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