Malaysia's exports are expected to grow 2.9 percent over 2013 and 6 percent next year as the global economy continues to improve in coming months.
The forecast was made by Chief Economist of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Douglas McWilliams.
According to the country's Ministry of International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) data released on December 6, Malaysia' exports rose 9.6 percent to 67.11 billion RM (20.75 billion USD) in October from a year ago, marking a fifth consecutive month of increase since June.
The October figure also showed an increase of 6.1 percent as compared to September.
Major exports for products for the month were electrical and electronic products, refined petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, palm oil, and chemicals and chemical products.
Exports to ASEAN rose 5.3 percent to 18.11 billion RM, accounting for 27 percent of Malaysia's total exports in October while exports to the US were lower by 6.3 percent to 5.2 billion RM compared with a year ago, attributed mainly to a decline in exports of optical and scientific equipment.
MITI said, imports in October 2013 increased by 13.9 percent to 58.87 billion RM from October 2012, bringing the country's total trade in this month to 125.98 billion RM (38.96 billion USD), an increase of 11.6 percent as compared to the same month a year ago.
Higher trade in October was recorded with China, which increased by 2.78 billion RM, followed by ASEAN (1.47 billion RM), Australia (1.2 billion RM), the European Union (1.18 billion RM), the Republic of Korea (636.9 million RM) and India (516.8 million RM).
According to the Malaysia External Trade statistics, in the first 10 months of this year, Malaysia's total trade was 1.132 trillion RM (350.08 billion USD), an increase of 3.4 percent over the same period in 2012, in which exports were 591.83 billion RM, representing an increase of 0.9 percent.
The top five trading partners which registered expansion in trade were China , Singapore , the EU, Japan and the US . Total trade with ASEAN increased by 4.1 percent to 311.32 billion RM or 27.5 percent of Malaysia's trade during the period of January-October, said the ministry./.