JANUARY – APRIL 2002

Sabah continued to register a favorable balance of trade during the first four months of 2002 with a surplus amounting to RM648.8 million. This surplus was however 28.2% lower (-RM255.0 million) when compared to RM903.8 million for the same period last year. The lower surplus was attributed to the substantial decline in the exports of crude petroleum (- RM 263.7 million), sawn timber (- RM69.2 million), plywood (- RM65.1 million) and methanol (- RM53.6 million).

2. Exports

Sabah recorded export receipts amounting to RM4,311.1 million during the first four months this year as against RM4,373.4 million for the same period last year, a decline of RM62.3 million or 1.4%. Sabah’s major export commodities during the current review period were palm oil, crude petroleum, plywood, sawn timber, palm kernel oil, uncoated printing & writing paper, hot briquetted iron and fresh, frozen prawns which together accounted for RM3,131.8 million or 72.6% of total exports.

Palm oil retained its position as Sabah’s leading major export commodity with revenue amounting to RM1,300.9 million and contributed to more than one-fifth or 22.5% of total export earnings during the first four months of 2002 as against RM1,062.0 million of the previous period (+ RM238.9million). The higher receipts were attributed to the better f.o.b export price from RM779.9 per tonne to RM1,131.4 per tonne (+ RM351.5 per tonne) while the volume exported declined by 211.8 thousand tonnes during the review periods. The Republic of China (304.0 thousand tonnes), India (166.8 thousand tonnes) Pakistan (156.2 thousand tonnes) and the Netherlands (142.4 thousand tonnes) were the main buyers during the current review period.

Revenue from crude petroleum, Sabah’s second major export commodity during the current review period, recorded a revenue amounting to RM910.4 million as against RM1,174.1 million during the review periods. This decline was resulted from the lower f.o.b export unit value from RM 772.9 per tonne to RM569.2 per tonne (-RM 203.7 per tonne) despite the higher export volume from 1,519 thousand tonnes to 1,599 thousand tonnes (+ 80.0 thousand tonnes). India, the Republic of Korea, and Peninsular Malaysia together imported about 81.2% of Sabah’s crude petroleum during the current review period.

Exports receipts from Plywood amounted to RM326.7 million as against RM 391.7 million during the periods under review. The export volume declined by 19.0 thousand cubic metres to 336.2 thousand cubic metres while its f.o.b export price was down by RM131.3 per cubic metre to RM971.7 per cubic metre. The main importers for Sabah’s plywood during the current review period were Japan (78.1 thousand cubic metres), the U.S.A (62.2 thousand cubic metres), the Republic of Korea (50.7 thousand cubic metres) and Peninsular Malaysia (50.0 thousand cubic metres).

3. Imports

Total imports for Sabah during the first four months of 2002 amounted to RM3,662.4 million as against RM3,469.6 million recorded for the same period last year. Machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, chemicals & related materials together amounted to RM2, 224.5 million and accounted for 60.7% of total imports.

Machinery and transport equipment tops the list of Sabah’s import bill with value amounting to RM1,229.4 million or 33.6% of total imports. Road vehicles (RM471.9 million), machines for particular industries (RM199.1 million), general industrial machinery and equipment, n.e.s & machine parts n.e.s (RM166.0 million) and electrical machinery & appliances n.e.s. (RM125.2 million) were the main component items imported. Peninsular Malaysia (RM802.3 million), the U.S.A (RM170.5 million), Japan (RM88.8 million) and the European Union (RM82.3 million) were the main suppliers of machinery and transport equipment to Sabah.

Imports of manufactured goods valued at RM548.3 million accounted for 15.0% of total imports during January-April 2002. Iron and steel (RM172.3 million), manufactures of metals n.e.s (RM131.0 million), non-metallic mineral manufactures (RM75.7 million) and rubber manufacture (RM62.2 million) were the main goods imported. Peninsular Malaysia alone supplies about 62.0% or RM340.0 million of total imports of manufactured goods into Sabah.

The import bill for chemicals and related materials during the first four months of 2002 amounted to RM446.8 million or 12.2% of total imports. Manufactured fertilizers, chemicals & rel. products together amounted to RM210.1 million. Peninsular Malaysia alone supplied about half of these items to Sabah during the current review period.

4. Direction of Trade

Sabah’s major trading partners during the first four months of 2002 were Peninsular Malaysia, ASEAN, Sarawak, the People’s Republic of China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the U.S.A and Taiwan in that order of importance.

Department of Statistics Malaysia,

(Sabah Branch), Kota Kinabalu

8 Jun 2002.