Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s total trade increased by 9.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to a record high of RM87.2 billion in 2021, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DoSM) Sabah External Trade Statistics Report for 2021.
In a statement, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin noted that Sabah had traded with 134 countries in 2021. He attributed the state’s strong total trade performance to the rise in exports, which increased 34.7 per cent y-o-y to RM55.7 billion.
The growth was driven by exports of palm oil which expanded 34.4 per cent y-o-y or RM4.4 billion to RM17.3 billion, followed by crude petroleum (+24.6 per cent, +RM3.8 billion), palm kernel oil (+63.7 per cent, +RM1.1 billion) and methanol (+67.0 per cent, +RM1.0 billion).
However, the state’s imports contracted by 17.1 per cent y-o-y to RM31.6 billion, resulting in a 10-year high trade surplus growth of 642.2 per cent or RM24.1 billion.
According to DoSM, the decline in imports was mainly due to the 50.2 per cent decrease in machinery and transport equipment.
The report also stated that Peninsular Malaysia was Sabah’s major trading partner and accounted for 39.8 per cent of its total trade, followed by China (12.3 per cent), Australia (5.0 per cent), the European Union (4.9 per cent) and India (4.6 per cent).
These five trading partners not only accounted for 66.5 per cent of Sabah’s total trade in 2021, but were also its top five export destinations, contributing RM34.9 billion or 62.8 per cent of total exports.
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