Malaysia Trade Surplus Smallest in 6 Months

2025-12-19 04:09 By Chusnul Chotimah 1 min. read

Malaysia’s trade surplus narrowed to MYR 6.1 billion in November 2025, down from MYR 14.8 billion in the same month last year and far below expectations of MYR 17.2 billion, marking the smallest trade surplus since May.

Exports rose 7% yoy to MYR 135.0 billion, slowing sharply from a 15.7% jump in October and falling below forecasts of 11.2%.

This marked the softest export growth in three months, due to a decline in agricultural shipments.

Growth was driven by higher sales in the manufacturing sector (7.9%) and mining (9.9%), with exports rising mainly to Singapore (4.1%), China (9.3%), and the EU (13.2%).

Meanwhile, imports surged 15.8% to MYR 128.9 billion, surpassing forecasts of 11.4% gain and marking the fastest growth in seven months.

The rise was boosted by higher imports of capital goods (56.8%) and intermediate goods (5.0%).

For the first eleven months of 2025, Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of MYR 132.6 billion, with exports and imports rising 6.1% and 5.6%, respectively.



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