Malaysia consists of two landmasses of similar size in Southeast Asia, namely Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia.

In 2022, Malaysia imported US$294.4 billion worth of products from all over the world, up 23.5% from US$238.3 billion in 2021.

Malaysia's most valuable imports are electronic integrated circuits and microcomponents, refined petroleum, crude oil, telephone equipment including smartphones, followed by solar diodes and semiconductors.

Malaysia's Best Supplier

As shown by Tendata Trade Data, Malaysia's imports are mainly supplied by exporters from the following countries: China (35.6% of Malaysia's global total), Singapore (7.5%), Taiwan (5.2%), United States (5.1%), Japan (4%), Indonesia (2.8%), South Korea (2.7%), Thailand (2.2%), Australia (2.2%), Saudi Arabia (1.8%), Vietnam (1.7%) and India (1.3%).

Malaysia's Top 10 Imports

1. Electrical machinery and equipment: US$85.2 billion (29% of total imports)

2. Mineral fuels including petroleum: US$55.1 billion (18.7%)

3. Machinery including computers: US$25.8 billion (8.8%)

4. Plastics, plastic products: $10 billion (3.4%)

5. Vehicles: $7.4 billion (2.5%)

6. Optical, technical, medical equipment: $6.7 billion (2.3%)

7. Steel: $6.6 billion (2.3%)

8. Gems, Precious Metals: $6.34 billion (2.2%)

9. Other chemicals: $6.27 billion (2.1%)

10. Organic chemicals: $5 billion (1.7%)

Malaysia's top 10 imports accounted for 72.9% of its total product purchases from other countries.

The fastest growing product category of Malaysia's imports is fossil fuels, including petroleum, which grows by 84.4% from 2021 to 2022. This growth is driven by an increase in the price Malaysia pays for imported crude oil. In second place is the miscellaneous chemicals category (33.8% growth from 2021), behind Malaysia's vehicle imports (25.4% growth).

The worst year-on-year decline was in Malaysia's imports of steel and iron metals, which fell by -9.5% year-on-year.

Exports

In 2022, Malaysia shipped US$352.4 billion worth of products to the world. The total value of Malaysia's exports increased by 17.8% from US$299.3 billion in 2021.

In 2022, Malaysia's largest exports were electronic integrated circuits and microcomponents, refined petroleum, palm oil, LPG, and solar diodes or semiconductors. Together, these major exports account for more than two-fifths (44.2%) of Malaysia's total export sales. Malaysia is the world's leading exporter of vulcanized rubber garments or accessories and has one of the highest global sales of palm oil, solar diodes or semiconductors, and electronic integrated circuits.

Malaysia's Best International Trade Customers

As shown by Tendata Trade Data, Malaysia's exports are mainly purchased by importers from Singapore (15% of the global total), China (13.6%), USA (10.8%), Japan (6.3%), Hong Kong (6.2%), Thailand (4.2%), Indonesia (3.6%), India (3.5%), South Korea ( 3.5%), Vietnam (3.5%), Taiwan (3.3%) and Australia (3.1%).

Malaysia's Top 10 Exports

1. Electrical machinery and equipment: US$127.9 billion (36.3% of total exports)

2. Mineral fuels including petroleum: US$60.2 billion (17.1%)

3. Machinery including computers: US$27.5 billion (7.8%)

4. Animal and vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $23.7 billion (6.7%)

5. Optical, technical, medical equipment: $14.4 billion (4.1%)

6. Plastics, plastic products: $10.3 billion (2.9%)

7. Rubber, rubber products: $7.7 billion (2.2%)

8. Aluminum: $7.5 billion (2.1%)

9. Steel: $7.148 billion (2%)

10. Other chemicals: $7.07 billion (2%)

Malaysia's top 10 exports accounted for more than four-fifths (83.2%) of its total global exports.

Fossil fuels, including petroleum, are the fastest growing of the top 10 export categories, increasing by 61.4% from 2021 to 2022. The second highest increase in export sales was in electrical machinery and equipment, which grew by 24.3%. Malaysia's shipments of animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes ranked third in terms of volume increase, growing by 20.2%.

Among Malaysia's top 10 export categories, the biggest decline was rubber materials and rubber products, down -54.2% year-on-year.