Malaysia July trade surplus narrows to 7.97 bln rgt vs 9.04 bln as imports surge

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysia recorded a smaller trade surplus of 7.975 billion ringgit in July against 9.036 billion a year earlier as imports rose faster while exports showed a marginal decline, the Statistics Department said Tuesday.

The trade surplus in June was revised to 8.781 billion ringgit compared to 8.697 billion reported earlier.

Total trade in July amounted to 93.056 billion ringgit, up 1.1 percent from the previous year.

In a statement, the department said exports in July slipped to 50.516 billion ringgit from 50.525 billion a year earlier but were up 2.7 percent from June.

"The increase (from June) was mainly attributed to palm oil, liquefied natural gas, crude petroleum, as well as electrical and electronic products," it said.

Malaysia is a net exporter of oil and gas and is the world's leading palm oil producer.

Exports to the US, Malaysia's single largest trading partner, grew 1.5 percent from the previous month to 7.62 billion ringgit, supported by higher exports of refined petroleum products and palm oi.

Imports in July rose 2.5 percent from a year ago to 42.54 billion ringgit and were up 5.3 percent from June.

For the first seven months, Malaysia's total trade rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 615.634 billion ringgit. Exports in the period rose to 333.645 billion ringgit from 330.4 billion previously, while imports expanded 3.4 percent to 281.988 billion ringgit.

The trade surplus for the seven months to July stood at 51.656 billion ringgit, it said.

(1 US dollar = 3.50 ringgit)