Malaysia's February exports shrink 7.7% to RM52.46b

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's February exports fell 7.7% to RM52.46bil from a year ago, due to the shorter working days and the festive season, the Statistics Department said.

It said on Friday, there was a decline in exports of electrical and electronic products, crude petroleum and palm oil.

"Lower exports to China, Japan, the USA and Singapore were main contributors to the decrease," it said.

The 7.7% contraction in exports was sharper than the consensus of a decline of 4.8%.

February imports in February fell 4.4% to RM44.26bil from a year ago, which was in contrast to consensus' expectations of a 3.5% increase.

The Statistics Department said the three main categories of imports by end use were intermediate goods valued at RM25.27bil or 57.1% share of total imports (down by 14.8%).

Capital goods totalled RM7.4bil or 16.7% of total imports (up 5.9%) and consumption goods accounted for RM2.95bil or 6.7% of total imports (down 7.6%).