The following list shows which Malaysia exports generated the most international sales during 2017. Unlike most information currently available on the web, the items below are detailed at the 4-digit tariff code level.
More granular data on export sales can help entrepreneurs identify precisely which products in which Malaysia has strong competitive advantages over other nations. This knowledge offers opportunities for innovation.
For the most recent four-digit HTS code data, please see the Searchable List of Malaysia’s Most Valuable Exports Products section in the Malaysia’s Top 10 Exports article. For a link to that article, see the See also paragraph above Research Sources below.
Highest Value Malaysian Export Products
Below are the 20 highest value export products shipped from Malaysia in 2017. Shown within brackets is the percentage change in value year over year.
- Integrated circuits/microassemblies: US$33 billion (up 24.3% since 2016)
- Processed petroleum oils: $13.3 billion (up 19.4%)
- Petroleum gases: $10.1 billion (up 21.6%)
- Palm oil: $9.7 billion (up 7.2%)
- Solar power diodes/semi-conductors: $8.5 billion (up 2.8%)
- Computers, optical readers: $8.5 billion (up 16.8%)
- Crude oil: $7 billion (up 23%)
- Phone system devices: $4 billion (up 3.4%)
- Unrecorded sound media: $3.9 billion (up 72.8%)
- Clothing, accessories (vulcanized rubber): $3.7 billion (up 15.2%)
- Printing machinery: $3.3 billion (up 38.3%)
- Oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers: $2.9 billion (up 19.9%)
- Computer parts, accessories: $2.7 billion (down -14.6%)
- Industrial fatty acids and alcohols: $2.4 billion (up 31%)
- Aluminum (unwrought): $2.1 billion (up 26.9%)
- TV receivers/monitors/projectors: $2 billion (up 2.9%)
- Animal/vegetable hydrogenated fats, oils: $1.9 billion (up 11.5%)
- Miscellaneous furniture: $1.9 billion (up 4.4%)
- Electrical machinery: $1.5 billion (up 77.2%)
- Lower-voltage switches, fuses: $1.5 billion (up 1.6%)
Among these product categories, electrical machinery posted the greatest increase in export sales with a 77.2% improvement from 2016 to 2017.
In second place were exports of unrecorded sound media which rose 72.8%. Exported printing machinery appreciated by 38.3%, followed by industrial fatty acids and alcohols up 31% year over year. Malaysian aluminum exports posted a respectable 26.9% gain.
One top export product incurred a year-over-year decline, namely computer parts or accessories which fell -14.6%.
See also Malaysia’s Top 10 Exports, Malaysia’s Top 10 Major Export Companies and Malaysia’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on March 5, 2018
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Exports and World Population, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on March 5, 2018
Trade Map, International Trade Centre, www.intracen.org/marketanalysis. Accessed on March 5, 2018