GOV’T MONITORING MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT; MINIMUM IMPACT TO MALAYSIA’S TOTAL TRADE

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- The government is monitoring the current conflict in the Middle East but has assured that there will be minimal impact on Malaysia’s total trade, said Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzen.

He said trade between Malaysia and Iran is minimal, amounting to RM2.45 billion, or 0.09 per cent, of Malaysia’s total trade in 2024.

“So the impact is less than 0.1 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade,” he told the Dewan Negara during a question-and-answer session today.

Sim was responding to a supplementary question from Senator Low Kian Chuan regarding the current Middle East conflict’s impact on Malaysia’s export sector, particularly due to the continued disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Malaysia complies with United Nations sanctions. So we only export to or import from Iran items permitted by the UN, for example, food, palm oil, palm-oil-based agricultural products, textiles, apparel, footwear, palm-oil-based manufactured products, and natural rubber. These are the goods we can trade with Iran.

“So far, the areas that affect Malaysia are petroleum and natural gas from Iran. However, we do not import much from there,” he said.

Tensions in the Middle East escalated after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, followed by Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israeli territory and on US military facilities in the region.

Earlier, Sim said Malaysia remains committed to a neutral and non-aligned stance in addressing global geopolitical uncertainty and retaliatory tariffs imposed by the United States.

He was responding to Senator Wan Martina Wan Yusoff’s question about Malaysia’s measures to balance geopolitical pressure from major powers without undermining export market access.

He added that Malaysia’s position as a “friend to everyone” has helped keep the country’s trade performance stable in 2025.

-- BERNAMA