Malaysia's April export growth predicted to hit 9.1%

It's the longest streak of strong growth.

According to DBS, trade data for April due today will likely show an export growth of 9.1% YoY. Market is pretty much in line with us on this. More importantly, this will mark the longest streak of strong export growth in recent years.

Export rebounded from a five consecutive months of “losing streak” between Feb-Jun13, before posting a solid 13% expansion in August last year.

Here's more from DBS:

Since then, the headline number has averaged a stunning 10.3% per month. This is the strongest pace in recent years.

While it reflects a fairly low base in the same period last year, it is undeniably true that the improvement in the global economy has helped to lift external demand, and spurred export sales.

Most of the impetus came from China and that should continue to be the key driver of export performance in the months ahead.

Import growth is expected to register a contraction of 5.4% YoY, which should bring overall trade surplus to MYR 9.0bn. With external demand likely to remain healthy and domestic growth slowing, trade surplus will improve significantly this year.