KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's total exports in January surged 37 per cent to RM52.45 billion against RM38.26 billion registered in January 2009, following higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products. Imports also increased by 31 per cent to RM39.52 billion, for the period under review, from RM30.16 billion previously, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed in a statement on Friday.

January's total trade amounted to RM91.96 billion, up 34.4 per cent from January 2009's total trade of RM68.43 billion.

Compared with December last year, total exports, however, decreased 4.1 per cent while imports declined 7.2 per cent which resulted in total trade in January easing 5.4 per cent.

"As a result, a trade surplus of RM12.93 billion was recorded in January this year, making it the 147th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997," said the minister.

On a year-on-year basis, exports to major markets, except the United States, registered a significant growth.

Mustapa said the top five export destinations, which accounted for 52.9 per cent of the country's total exports, were China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Meanwhile, exports to Asean countries, which accounted for 25.2 per cent in January 2010, expanded 44.2 per cent to RM13.23 billion.

The increase was mainly due to E&E products, chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of metal, refined petroleum products, iron and steel products as well as machinery, appliances and parts.

The minister said exports to the European Union increased 29.4 per cent to RM5.61 billion compared with January last year, mainly due to higher exports of E&E products.

As for imports, the increase was due mainly to higher imports of intermediate goods.

The three main categories of imports by end use were intermediate goods valued at RM27.26 billion or 69 per cent of total imports; capital goods worth RM5.32 billion and consumption goods amounting to RM2.84 billion.

Top ten import sources were from China, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, total imports from Asean amounted to RM10.87 billion or 27.5 per cent of the country's total imports.

Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd (MARC) Chief Economist Nor Zahidi Alias said the performance was in line with expectations.

He said the low-base factor was expected to result in very strong trade numbers for January coupled with the pickup in global demand, particularly for E&E products.

He told Bernama exports plunged almost 30 per cent last January but this was not surprising.

"Going forward, we see a sustained rebound in exports following a recovery in major developed countries as well as emerging economies," said Nor Zahidi.

He said the government's efforts in diversifying the export base bore fruit in recent years and this was evident by the increasing proportion of Malaysia's exports to Asian countries.

-- BERNAMA