Malaysia's June exports rise 17.2%

Malaysia's total exports in June increased by 17.2 percent year-on-year to 52.83 billion ringgit, a Malaysian official announced here on Tuesday.

The increase in exports was broad-based, namely electrical and electronic (E&E) products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), chemicals and chemical (C&C) products, optical and scientific equipment and palm oil, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said.

According to Mustapa, E&E products made up the largest chunk ( 40.2 percent or 21.3 billion ringgit) of the country's total exports, followed by palm oil (7.7 percent or 4.1 billion ringgit), C&C products (6.3 percent or 3.4 billion ringgit) and LNG (5.7 percent or three billion ringgit).

Meanwhile, Mustapa said imports had grown by 30.1 percent to 46. 79 billion ringgit, resulting in a total trade of 99.62 billion ringgit, an increase of 22.9 percent from a year ago.

Mustapa said a trade surplus of 6.04 billion was recorded in the particular month, making it the 152nd consecutive month of trade surplus since November.

On another note, Mustapa said total trade during the second quarter of 2010 was 290.82 billion ringgit, an increase of 4.4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2010. (one U.S. dollar equals about 3.16 ringgit)
(Source:xinhua)