SABAH TRADE SUMMARY

JANUARY – OCTOBER 2002

1. Balance of Trade

1.1 Sabah continued to enjoy a favourable trade balance with a surplus amounting to RM2,903.8 million during the first ten months of 2002, an increase of RM1,953.6 million or 205.6% over the RM950.2 million for the same period last year. The higher surplus was attributed to the higher increase in exports (+ RM2,183.6 million) as compared to RM230.1 million increase in imports between the two periods under review.

2. Exports

2.1 Total exports revenue for Sabah during January-October 2002 amounted to RM12,572.8 million, an increase of RM2,183.6 million or 21.0% over RM10,389.2 million during the corresponding period last year. This increase was mainly due to the significant increase in the exports of palm oil by RM1,665.8 million. Sabah’s major export commodities were palm oil, crude petroleum, plywood, sawn timber, palm kernel oil and hot briquetted iron which together accounted for RM9,033.1 million or 71.8% of total exports.

2.2 Palm oil retained it’s position as the leading revenue earner of Sabah with a revenue amounting to RM4,275.0 million or 34.0% of Sabah’s total exports during the first ten months of 2002, an increase of RM1,665.8 million over the RM2,609.2 million recorded for the same period last year. The increased receipts were jointly attributed to the f.o.b export price which rose by RM433.4 per tonne to RM1,279.5 per tonne coupled with the 8.3% increase in the export volume by 257.2 thousand tonnes to 3,341.0 thousand tonnes. The main buyers of Sabah’s palm oil were the Republic of China (1,173.7 thousand tonnes), Netherlands (478.4 thousand tonnes), India (454.5 thousand tonnes) and Pakistan (326.4 thousand tonnes).

2.3 Exports of Crude petroleum continued its downward trend with receipts of RM2,649.0 million, a decline of RM213.0 million from RM2,862.0 million during the review periods. The decline was resulted from the lower f.o.b export price from RM751.6 per tonne to RM657.9 per tonne (- RM93.7 per tonne) despite the increased export volume by 219 thousand tonnes. India, Peninsular Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Indonesia together attributed to 94.7% of Sabah’s total exports of crude petroleum during the current period.

2.4 Exports revenue from plywood rose marginally by 2.2% or RM20.6 million from RM952.2 million to RM972.8 million during the periods under review. This was due to the higher f.o.b export price which increased from RM1,049.7 per cubic metre to RM1,079.7 per cubic metre. This increase was however partially offset by the marginal decline in the volume exported by 6,146 cubic metres or 0.7%. The main importers of Sabah’s plywood were Japan (225.9 thousand cubic metres), the U.S.A (190.7 thousand cubic metres), the Republic of Korea (145.4 thousand cubic metres) and Peninsular Malaysia (117.5 thousand cubic metres).

3. Imports

3.1 For the first ten months of 2002, Sabah’s imports amounted to RM9,669.1 million, an increase of RM230.1 million or 2.4% against RM9,439.0 million recorded for the same period last year. Machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods and chemicals and related products together accounted for 59.2% or RM5,720.0 million of total imports.

3.2 Sabah imported RM3,199.0 million worth of machinery and transport equipment during the first ten months of 2002. These comprised mainly of road vehicles (RM1,217.7 million), machinery for particular industries (RM472.3 million), general industrial machinery and equipment (RM468.4 million) and electrical machinery and appliances n.e.s (RM343.2 million).

3.3 Imports of manufactured goods amounted to RM1,401.4 million or 14.5% of total imports during the current review period. Iron and steel (RM440.2 million), manufactures of metal n.e.s (RM325.4 million), non-metallic mineral manufactures n.e.s (RM179.3 million) and rubber manufactures n.e.s (RM164.7 million) were the main component items imported.

3.4 For the first ten months of 2002 Sabah’s import bill for chemicals and related products amounted to RM1,119.6 million or 11.6% of total imports. Fertilizers, manufactured (RM312.5 million), other chemicals and products (RM182.9 million) and essential oils, perfumery, etc. (RM171.1 million) were the major imported items.

4. Direction of Trade

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

Department of Statistics Malaysia,

(Sabah Branch), Kota Kinabalu

9 December 2002.

Note: Figures may not add up to totals due to rounding. x - Less than 0.05% + - Less than RM0.05 Million

		Quantity			Value
	Unit of	January-October		Changes in	January-October		Changes in
Major Commodities	Quantity	2001	2002	Quantity	2001	2002	Value
1. Palm Oil ( Crude & Processed)	Tonnes	3,083,777	3,341,012	257,235	2,609.2	4,275.0	1,665.8
2. Petroleum (Crude)	‘000Tonnes	3,808	4,027	219	2,862.0	2,649.0	-213.0
3. Plywood	Cu Metres	907,115	900,969	-6,146	952.2	972.8	20.6
4. Palm Kernel Oil	Tonnes	293,163	324,405	31,242	299.9	414.8	114.9
5. Sawn Timber ( Incl. conifer)	‘000 Cu Metres	476	416	-60	534.1	461.7	-72.4
6. Prawns, fresh, frozen	Tonnes	6,703	7,524	821	184.7	182.0	-2.6
7. Uncoated Printing & Writing Paper	Tonnes	98,380	121,036	22,656	225.1	257.9	32.9
8. Hot Briquetted Iron	Tonnes	581,425	610,611	29,186	227.3	259.8	32.5
9. Laminated Wood	Cu. Metres	120,049	101,899	-18,150	131.4	103.6	-27.8
10. Veneer Sheets	Cu. Metres	128,333	125,711	-2,622	125.2	127.3	2.1
11. Palm Kernel Cake	Tonnes	390,660	362,398	-28,262	46.0	69.0	23.0
12. Cocoa Beans (Raw & Roasted)	Tonnes	27,948	19,284	-8,664	97.1	95.5	-1.6
13. Moulded Woods	Cu. Metres	26,836	25,071	-1,765	48.7	45.5	-3.2
14. Methanol	Tonnes	478,964	403,135	-75,829	270.3	203.1	-67.3
15. Rubber	Tonnes	18,331	22,049	3,718	40.9	57.3	16.3
Total Selected Major Exports					8,654.2	10,174.3	1,520.2
Other Exports					1,735.0	2,398.5	663.5
Total Exports					10,389.2	12,572.8	2,183.6

	January-October
S.I.T.C. Commodity Sections	2001		2002		Changes in	% Change Over
	Value	% of total	Value	% of total	Value	Corresponding Year
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)=(3)-(1)	(6)=(5)/(1)x100
0. Food	1,132.6	12.0	1,109.6	11.5	-23.0	-2.0
1. Beverages & tobacco	341.6	3.6	320.9	3.3	-20.7	-6.1
2. Crude materials, inedible except fuels	348.8	3.7	325.6	3.4	-23.2	-6.6
3. Mineral fuels, lubricants & related materials	1,343.5	14.2	1,021.9	10.6	-321.5	-23.9
4. Animal & vegetable oils & fats	68.7	0.7	56.7	0.6	-12.0	-17.5
5. Chemicals & related products	985.2	10.4	1,119.6	11.6	134.4	13.6
6. Manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials	1,385.5	14.7	1,401.4	14.5	15.8	1.1
7. Machinery & transport equipment	2,913.4	30.9	3,199.0	33.1	285.5	9.8
8. Misc. manufactured articles	748.3	7.9	884.4	9.1	136.1	18.2
9. Misc. transactions & commodities	171.3	1.8	229.9	2.4	58.6	34.2
TOTAL IMPORTS	9,439.0	100.0	9,669.1	100.0	230.1	2.4

	Imports				Exports
	January-October				January-October
Country/	2001		2002		2001		2002
Country Groupings	Value	% of total	Value	% of total	Value	% of total	Value	% of total
1. Rest of Malaysia :
- Peninsular Malaysia	5,430.5	57.5	5,666.7	58.6	1,647.2	15.9	1,937.8	15.4
- Sarawak	518.3	5.5	269.1	2.8	676.8	6.5	991.4	7.9

2. ASEAN :
- Brunei Darussalam	1.3	x	1.5	x	70.8	51.7	104.2	0.8
- Cambodia	6.7	0.1	1.3	x	0.6	x	0.33	x
- Indonesia, Rep. Of	245.5	2.6	226.2	2.3	199.6	1.9	508.1	4.0
- Laos, People’s Dem. Rep. of	-	-	-	-	+	x	5.3	0.0
- Myanmar, Union of	4.9	0.1	4.9	0.1	1.9	x	0.5	x
- Philippines	47.0	0.5	59.4	0.6	148.9	1.4	126.1	1.0
- Singapore, Rep. Of	549.7	5.8	523.2	5.4	224.2	2.2	289.0	2.3
- Thailand	114.6	1.2	123.1	1.3	229.8	2.2	137.5	1.1
- Vietnam, Soc. Rep. Of	57.8	0.6	53.0	0.5	66.2	0.6	73.2	0.6
Total ASEAN	1,027.5	10.9	992.7	10.3	942.2	9.1	1,244.2	9.9

3. Japan	462.4	4.9	414.2	4.3	920.4	8.9	915.0	7.3
4. China, People’s Rep. Of	250.4	2.7	345.5	3.6	795.3	7.7	1,839.9	14.6
5. Taiwan	146.0	1.5	130.6	1.4	243.2	2.3	261.1	2.1
6. Korea, Rep. of	52.2	0.6	52.9	0.5	1,248.9	12.0	1,094.8	8.7
7. India	64.0	0.7	63.4	0.7	1,154.1	11.1	1,532.1	12.2
8. European Union	358.1	3.8	409.1	4.2	791.1	7.6	1,092.2	8.7
9. U.S.A.	574.2	6.1	786.2	8.1	454.8	4.4	433.2	3.4
10. Other Countries	555.1	5.9	538.7	5.6	1,515.2	14.6	1,229.7	9.8
Total	9,439.0	100.0	9,669.0	100.0	10,389.1	100.0	12,571.4	100.0

Table 1- EXPORTS OF MAJOR COMMODITIES

SABAH

Imports

January-October

Total ASEAN

Total