International trade, facilitated by the shipping route in adjacent Strait of Malacca, and manufacturing are the key sectors.[169][170][171] Malaysia is an exporter of natural and agricultural resources, and petroleum is a major export.[37] Malaysia has once been the largest producer of tin,[172] rubber and palm oil in the world. Manufacturing has a large influence in the country's economy,[173] although Malaysia's economic structure has been moving away from it.[174] Malaysia remains one of the world's largest producers of palm oil.[175]
In an effort to diversify the economy and make it less dependent on export goods, the government has pushed to increase tourism to Malaysia. As a result, tourism has become Malaysia's third largest source of foreign exchange, although it is threatened by the negative effects of the growing industrial economy, with large amounts of air and water pollution along with deforestation affecting tourism.[176] The tourism sector came under some pressure in 2014 when the national carrier Malaysia Airlines had one of its planes disappear in March, while another was brought down by a missile over Ukraine in July, resulting in the loss of a total 537 passengers and crew. The state of the airline, which had been unprofitable for 3 years, prompted the government in August 2014 to nationalise the airline by buying up the 30 per cent it did not already own.[177] Between 2013 and 2014, Malaysia has been listed as one of the best places to retire in the world too, with the country in third position on the Global Retirement Index. This in part was the result of the Malaysia My Second Home programme to allow foreigners to live in the country on a long-stay visa for up to 10 years.[178] In 2015, Malaysia ranked in fourth position on The World's Best Retirement Havens while getting in the first place as the best place in Asia to retire. Warm climate with British colonial background made foreigners easy to interact with the locals.