Malaysia's Nov exports up on China demand

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's exports in November 2012 grew 3.3 percent on an annual basis to 58.67 billion ringgit ($19.28 billion) on improved demand in China and the other Southeast Asian countries., according to official data on Wednesday.

In October, exports fell 3.2 percent year-on-year.

The November exports of refined petroleum products, which accounted for seven percent of the total exports, jumped 32.8 percent to 4.14 billion ringgit.

Shipments of electrical and electronic products, which constituted a third of the total exports, expanded by 1 percent to 18.74 billion ringgit.

Malaysia's year-on-year exports to China for the month rose 5.4 percent to 7.73 billion ringgit, bolstered by higher exports of commodities, chemical and petroleum products.

Exports to the other Southeast Asian countries grew 7.8 percent while shipments to Japan and Europe declined sharply by 16.2 and 11.3 percent respectively.

Exports to the US grew 11 percent year-on-year, contributed mainly by electronic products.

The total imports for the month, more than half of which were made up by intermediate goods used for exports, increased by 4.3 percent from the previous year.

Trade surplus in November was 9.28 billion ringgit.

Exports for the 11 months of the year rose by 1.3 percent to 645.46 billion ringgit.