In May 2025, Malaysia's imports experienced a 6.6% increase year-on-year, reaching MYR 125.86 billion, although this fell short of market expectations of a 13.8% rise. This marks a significant slowdown from the previous month's impressive 20.0% growth rate, which had been the fastest in over a year. The recent figures underscored the repercussions of escalating U.S. tariffs, with notable declines observed in imports of intermediate goods (-4.4%) and consumption goods (-1.1%), while capital goods witnessed a remarkable surge of 63.7%.
Sector-wise, manufacturing imports climbed by 8.5%, buoyed by substantial gains in Electrical and Electronics (E&E) products, which soared by 39.4%, and machinery, which posted a modest increase of 0.6%. The agricultural sector saw a 7.2% rise in imports, primarily driven by a robust 26.9% growth in palm oil products. Conversely, imports in the mining sector plummeted by 16.1%, primarily due to significant declines in crude petroleum (-37.4%) and other mining products (-15.6%).
On a geographical basis, imports rose from China (11.3%), the United States (46.7%), and Taiwan (37.8%). However, there were declines in imports from ASEAN countries (-7.7%), Japan (-18.1%), the European Union (-7.5%), and South Korea (-0.9%). Over the first five months of the year, the total value of imports increased by 6.9%, amounting to MYR 591.54 billion.
