PETALING JAYA: Electrical and electronics (E&E) exports are expected to continue performing well this year despite the ongoing pandemic and global chip shortage supply risks, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp or Matrade says.

       Its director of E&E, ICT, machinery and equipment section, Naim Abdul Rahman, said Malaysia was now the sixth largest exporter of semiconductors and integrated circuits (ICs) in the world, accounting for 6.3% of the world’s total export, and this will continue to support the E&E industry at it represented 61.7% of export products.

       “Exports of semiconductors and ICs grew 90% year-on-year (y-o-y) over 2020,” he said in a webinar “Boosting Malaysian SMEs’ competitiveness on the Global Stage” organised by global electronics industry association SEMI Southeast Asia and the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA).

       Naim noted that Malaysia’s E&E trade performance continued its upward momentum in January and February 2022, with exports increasing by 19.6% y-o-y to US$20.18bil (RM85bil) compared with the corresponding period in 2021.

       “In terms of major export products and markets, a similar trend is noticed, whereby all top five export products recorded remarkable growth, while semiconductors remained as the largest E&E export products,” he said.

       The top five export products for E&E were semiconductors and ICs; telecommunication equipment and parts; automatic data processing (ADP) machines; parts and accessories for office machines and ADP; and electrical machinery and apparatus. Singapore was the largest market, followed by the United States, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. — Bernama