KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — The manufacturing sector’s sales value has returned to positive, recording 3.3 per cent growth year-on-year to RM146.8 billion in May this year, bolstered by the strong growth in among others, transport equipment and other manufacturers, non-metallic mineral products and electric and electronics products, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
The transport equipment and other manufacturers recorded growth of 17.3 per cent, non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (8.7 per cent); and electrical and electronics products (8.2 per cent).
This brings the overall performance of sales value for the manufacturing sector for January to May 2023 to RM741.2 billion, increasing by 5.1 per cent against the same period of the preceding year.
“The sales value of the manufacturing sector increased by 3.3 per cent in May after recording a decline of 2.0 per cent in the preceding month. On a month-on-month comparison, the sales value rebounded to 1.3 per cent against -7.2 per cent recorded in April,” it said in a statement today.
The department said the sales value of export-oriented industries which represented 71.6 per cent of total sales rebounded marginally by 0.2 per cent in May after registering a decrease in April 2023.
The increment was mainly contributed by the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products (7.9 per cent); manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork (7.5 per cent); and the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (2.4 per cent) industries.
“Nonetheless, the domestic-oriented industries sustained positive momentum to record double-digit growth of 12.3 per cent in May (April: 1.6 per cent).
“Meanwhile, the vibrant performance of domestic-oriented industries was primarily underpinned by the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (20.1 per cent); manufacture of food processing products (12.9 per cent) and the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (10.6 per cent) industries,” it shared.
During the first five months of the year, the number of employees increased by 2.6 per cent to a total of 2.36 million persons while salaries and wages grew by 4.1 per cent to RM40.6 billion.
Consequently, during the period, the sales value per employee recorded a 2.5 per cent increase to RM314,636.
— Bernama
