M'sia export forecast

Malaysia doubles export growth forecast


2010/03/02
MALAYSIA'S government said exports may grow this year at twice the pace it predicted earlier, citing rising global demand for palm oil and electronics.

Overseas shipments may increase 6 per cent or 7 per cent this year, more than a previous forecast of 3.5 per cent, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told reporters in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, today.

“The recovering global economy would contribute to increased demand for Malaysian exports such as electrical and electronic products, furniture, rubber products as well as commodities,” he said.

Malaysia emerged from a recession last quarter as the global recovery revived exports of Sime Darby Bhd’s palm oil and Intel Corp’s computer chips. Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy may expand a faster-than-expected 6 percent in 2010 after contracting 1.7 per cent last year, Prime Minister Najib Razak was cited as saying by a local daily today.

The government had forecast in October that the economy would expand 2 per cent to 3 per cent in 2010 after shrinking an estimated 3 per cent last year.

Global semiconductor sales will grow 10.2 per cent to US$242.1 billion in 2010, the Semiconductor Industry Association predicted in November. Chip sales fell 9 per cent in 2009, the group said Feb. 1.

‘Stronger Recovery’

“We believe the semiconductor sector is poised for a stronger recovery in 2010 given the stronger demand outlook,” Wong Chin Wai, an analyst at RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd in Malaysia, wrote in a report today, maintaining an “overweight” call on the industry with Unisem (M) Bhd as his top pick.

Intel, which has production facilities in Malaysia, Motorola Inc. and other U.S. electronics makers account for about 16 per cent of Malaysia’s total exports of manufactured goods, and almost 30 per cent of the country’s electronics shipments, according to the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce’s electronics industry group.

Higher palm oil prices will boost earnings this year, IOI Corp, Malaysia’s second-biggest listed producer, said last month.