Malaysia's manufacturing sales, which are a key driver of the economy, sank 22.7 percent in January from a year earlier, according to official data released today.Malaysia, heavily reliant on foreign buyers for its manufactured products, is widely expected to be extremely hard hit by the economic downturn. Today's statistics spell trouble for this ASEAN tiger.
Across the border, IHT reports that this Thailand saw its total exports fall by 11 percent over the previous year, whereas imports declined by a whopping 40 percent. Thailand's trade surplus is growing rapidly, and now tops $3.5 billion.
In February Thai electronics and automotive exports fell more than Malaysia's did for January -- by about one third.
In addition to technology goods, Thailand exports a lot of food (Thailand ranks as the world's 8th food exporting nation), and one would anticipate that in spite of any economic slowdown, demand for food is not likely to go away.
Malaysia, on the other hand, has turned a lot of its land over to palm oil plantations -- an energy crop. And Malaysia is a petroleum exporting nation. Energy consumption, of course, has declined.
The two powerhouses of Malaysia's economy are in real trouble. But I suspect that one pillar of Thailand's export-driven economy -- that's agriculture -- ought to help that country weather the gathering storm.
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