Malaysia External demand probably remained weak

The Department of Statistics of Malaysia will announce May trade data on 3 July. 

Standard Chartered expects exports to have continued to contract by 9.2% y/y, versus an 8.8% contraction in April, whereas, commodity exports is likely to continue to lead the fall, having dropped 24% y/y in the first four months of the year. 

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) export prices likely continued to try to catch up with global prices; LNG export values fell 31% y/y in April. Non-commodity exports have also been weak, rising just 5% y/y in 4M-2015. 

"We expect imports to have fallen by 7.6% y/y. Intermediate-goods imports have been weak, in line with weak export demand, while consumer goods imports have remained resilient. We forecast a smaller trade surplus of MYR 4.2bn in May", says Standard Charter