Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)

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Comparative Advantage of Malaysia Manufactured Exports: Evidence from 2020–2024

Authors
Noor Aida Noh1, *, Nur Hafizah Ramli2
1Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia, Jalan 6/91, Taman Shamelin Perkasa, 56100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
*Corresponding author. Email: aida_n@uptm.edu.my
Corresponding Author
Noor Aida Noh
Available Online 20 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_11How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Malaysia; Manufacturing Exports; Revealed Comparative Advantage; Trade Competitiveness
Abstract

Malaysia’s manufacturing sector has long been a major contributor to national economic growth. There are limited evidence exists on how Malaysia’s comparative advantage in manufactured exports has evolved in recent years. This study examines changes in Malaysia’s manufacturing competitiveness from 2020 to 2024 using the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index. The analysis covers 115 products from the UN Comtrade database, classified into low-, medium-, and high-technology groups based on Lall’s (2000) framework. Results show a clear shift from low- to high-technology products, with electrical and electronics (E&E) exports (HT1) maintaining strong comparative advantage, while process industries (MT2) also strengthened. In contrast, engineering (MT3) and non-E&E high-technology (HT2) products remain less competitive. These findings suggest that Malaysia’s manufacturing structure is becoming more technology-intensive but concentrated in a few cores E&E products. Policy measures are needed to support innovation, skills upgrading, and export diversification to sustain Malaysia’s global competitiveness.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
20 June 2026
ISBN
978-94-6239-715-6
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_11How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Noor Aida Noh
AU  - Nur Hafizah Ramli
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - Comparative Advantage of Malaysia Manufactured Exports: Evidence from 2020–2024
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 2 Advances in Business & Economics, Social Science, Communications & Media (ICAR-T2 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 154
EP  - 164
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_11
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-715-6_11
ID  - Noh2026
ER  -