Trade and Gender: Malaysia

Canada and Malaysia are members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which came into force for Malaysia on November 29, 2022. In the past five years, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Malaysia, which reached more than $4.8 billion in 2021, was up almost 38%. This was three times the increase in Canada's total merchandise trade with the world over the same period.

In 2021, Canada exported over $1.0 billion in merchandise to Malaysia and imported more than $3.8 billion worth of merchandise.

In Canada, 3,294 jobs were directly or indirectly supported by merchandise exports to Malaysia in 2020, 989 of which were occupied by Canadian women.

Top 5 Industries:

In 2020, the top 5 industries employing Canadian women in jobs supported directly and indirectly by merchandise exports to Malaysia were:

• Wholesale trade: 172 jobs
• Crop and animal production: 116 jobs
• Finance and insurance: 77 jobs
• Professional, scientific and technical services: 75 jobs
• Transportation and warehousing: 73 jobs

The number of Canadian businesses exporting goods to Malaysia in 2021 was 1,070, while the number of Canadian businesses importing goods from Malaysia was 6,255.

Women-owned and equally owned Canadian businesses trading with Malaysia make up a larger proportion of merchandise importers than of merchandise exporters. They also account for a larger proportion of imports than exports by value.

Ownership of Canadian businesses trading with Malaysia in 2018:

Women-owned and equally-owned businesses in 2018:

• Export value: 9.9%
• Import value: 17.5%
• Exporters: 16.0%
• Importers: 22.7%

Men-owned businesses in 2018:

• Export value: 90.1%
• Import value: 82.5%
• Exporters: 84.0%
• Importers: 77.3%

Notes: The term “equally owned business” is used in reference to one in which men and women each own 50%. The reported percentages are those for which data on ownership by gender are available.

Sources: Statistics Canada (2021), Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database (2018), Trade by Exporter Characteristics (2021), Trade by Importer Characteristics (2021) and Canadian Merchandise Trade Database (2021).