KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total trade in May 2026 rose by 29.8% year-on-year to RM327.6 billion from RM252.5 billion a year ago, driven by stronger growth in both exports and imports, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
Malaysia’s exports grew 45.3% valued at RM184 billion, and imports rose 14.1% amounting to RM143.6 billion, while trade surplus surged by 5,214% to RM40.4 billion in the month reviewed.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth in exports was supported by the increases in both re-exports and domestic exports.
“Re-exports, which accounted for 22.2% of total exports, rose by 58.4% year-on-year to RM40.9 billion. Domestic exports, which contributed 77.8% to total exports, expanded by 42% to RM143.1 billion,” he said in a statement in conjunction with the release of Malaysia External Trade Statistics for May 2026 today.
Correspondingly, imports increased 14.1% to RM143.6 billion, while the trade surplus increased by 5,214% to RM40.4 billion, marking the 73rd consecutive month of surplus since May 2020.
Compared with April 2026, exports and trade surplus grew by 0.4% and 38.2%, respectively, while imports and total trade decreased 6.8% and 2.9%, respectively.
Mohd Uzir said total trade, exports and imports for the January to May 2026 period registered an improvement.
Total trade posted a double-digit increase of 18.3%, from RM1.2 trillion to RM1.5 trillion, in line with the rise in exports (24.3%) as well as imports (11.8%).
Moreover, the trade surplus expanded by 182.9% to post a value of RM132.8 billion.
“During the first five months of 2026, Malaysia recorded its highest cumulative trade value (exports and imports) of RM1.5 trillion, surpassing the total trade value of RM1.4 trillion recorded for the entire of 2014, 12 years ago,“ said the chief statistician.
From the perspective of commodity groups, 111 out of 260 export groups and 132 out of 258 import groups posted gains compared to the same month of the previous year.
Mohd Uzir said the rise in exports was primarily underpinned by increased shipments to the United States (RM18.3 billion), followed by Singapore (RM7.4 billion), Hong Kong (RM6.8 billion), Taiwan (RM6.2 billion), European Union (RM4.7 billion), China (RM4.2 billion) and Mexico (RM1.9 billion).
The import rise largely reflected higher inflows originating from China (RM11.3 billion), followed by Singapore (RM5.6 billion), Taiwan (RM3.7 billion), Thailand (RM1.4 billion), European Union (RM1.4 billion), Vietnam (RM1.1 billion) and Japan (RM943.4 million).
Export growth was anchored by heightened shipments of electrical and electronic (E&E) products (RM37.9 billion), other manufactures (RM10.3 billion), petroleum products (RM6 billion), liquefied natural gas (LNG, RM2.7 billion), optical and scientific equipment (RM2.3 billion) and machinery, equipment and parts (RM990.5 million).
Concurrently, imports corresponded with stronger inflows of E&E products (RM11.6 billion), petroleum products (RM3 billion), other manufacturing (RM2.2 billion), machinery, equipment and parts (RM1.3 billion), chemical and chemical products (RM985.8 million), and optical and scientific equipment (RM750.1 million).
Mohd Uzir noted that the increase in imports by end use was in accordance with higher demand for intermediate goods. Imports of intermediate goods, which accounted for 51.9% of total imports, increased by 14.4% or RM9.4 billion to reach RM74.5 billion.
However, imports of capital goods (12.9% of total imports) fell by 18.3% or RM4.2 billion, settling at RM18.5 billion, whereas imports of consumption goods (6.8% of total imports) declined by 2.7% or RM274.2 million, amounting to RM9.8 billion compared with May 2025.
