In February 2025, Malaysia saw a slight increase in its export and import prices, with the export unit value index rising by 0.1 per cent from 151.2 to 151.4 points. At the same time, the import unit value index grew by 0.3 per cent, reaching 128.1 points from 127.7 points the previous month. Despite these gains, the terms of trade dipped marginally by 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis, standing at 118.2 points. This update was presented in the latest External Trade Indices report (base year 2010), which covers changes in unit value, trade volume, and terms of trade across ten major product categories, based on the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).
Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, explained that the slight rise in export unit value was largely due to price increases in mineral fuels (up 2.5 per cent), food products (up 0.7 per cent), and miscellaneous manufactured items (up 0.6 per cent). However, export volume showed a monthly contraction of 3.8 per cent, largely due to drops in mineral fuels (down 12.4 per cent), animal and vegetable oils and fats (down 5.0 per cent), and machinery and transport equipment (down 4.7 per cent). Still, the seasonally adjusted export volume index recorded a growth of 2.3 per cent, moving from 159.2 to 162.8 points. On a year-to-year basis, both the export value and volume indices rose by 2.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
Import prices also showed a positive trend, with a 0.3 per cent increase supported by higher values in mineral fuels, miscellaneous manufactured articles, and food. On the other hand, the import volume index saw a notable decline of 11.6 per cent, influenced by lower imports in manufactured goods (down 17.9 per cent), machinery and transport equipment (down 15.9 per cent), and miscellaneous products (down 11.4 per cent). Adjusted for seasonal changes, the import volume index dropped by 2.0 per cent to 208.7 points. Compared with the same month last year, import prices dropped by 1.4 per cent while import volumes rose significantly by 7.0 per cent.
Malaysia’s terms of trade fell by 0.2 per cent in February 2025, mostly due to weaker indices in animal and vegetable oils and fats (down 2.0 per cent), machinery and transport equipment (down 0.5 per cent), and manufactured goods (down 0.1 per cent). Nevertheless, the year-on-year comparison showed a 4.2 per cent improvement in terms of trade, which rose from 113.4 points in February 2024 to 118.2 points this year.
In the context of regional cooperation, Malaysia will serve as the chair for the 15th ASEAN Community Statistical System Committee (ACSS15) this year under its ASEAN 2025 leadership. This role emphasizes strengthening statistical collaboration for sustainable development across the region.
Additionally, the Malaysian government continues to promote the importance of data by designating October 20th as National Statistics Day (MyStats Day), with the theme “Statistics is the Essence of Life.” The fourth celebration of World Statistics Day will also take place on October 20, 2025, under the theme “Driving Change with Quality Statistics and Data for Everyone.”
To support data transparency and user engagement, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) provides OpenDOSM NextGen — a digital platform offering access to a wide range of data catalogues and visual analytics, available online at https://open.dosm.gov.my.
