KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — The Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose by 2.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in May, driven by steady output growth in the manufacturing sector, said the Statistics Department (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the IPI stayed positive in May (April: 6.1 per cent), with the manufacturing sector growing by 4.6 per cent (April: 4.9 per cent) and a 4.2 per cent expansion in electricity output (April: 7.8 per cent).
However, the mining sector output plummeted by 6.9 per cent, in contrast with the double-digit growth of 10 per cent recorded in April. Compared with the previous month, the IPI rebounded to 3.5 per cent from -7.6 per cent.
“The steady output growth in the manufacturing sector was bolstered by the acceleration in export-oriented industries, which grew by 3.7 per cent against 2.6 per cent recorded in April 2024.
“This marked the highest growth registered since November 2022 (5.1 per cent), amid a strong rebound in the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products to 8.4 per cent (April 2024: -1.4 per cent), and a 4.8 per cent increase in the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (April 2024: 2.7 per cent),” he said in a statement today.
Uzir noted that the growth was also reflected in the country’s manufactured goods export performance, which expanded by 13.5 per cent in May (April: 11.9 per cent).
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he said export-oriented industries bounced back by 9 per cent from -11.6 per cent in April, while the growth of the domestic-oriented industries output remained sound at 6.4 per cent after registering 9.5 per cent in the preceding month.
On another note, Uzir said the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers contributed a significant increase of 10.3 per cent, followed by the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (9.8 per cent), and the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (6.5 per cent).
Compared with the previous month, the domestic-oriented industries expanded by 2.3 per cent (April: -1.3 per cent) while the generation of electricity grew by 4.2 per cent y-o-y in May (April: 7.8 per cent).
On a m-o-m basis, the electricity index rebounded to 5.6 per cent (April: -4 per cent), he said.
He also highlighted the IPI showed an upward trend in several countries in May, such as the United States, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan, however, it slowed down in China and South Korea while Thailand experienced a decline.
From January to May this year, the chief statistician said the IPI improved by 3.6 per cent as compared to 1.9 per cent recorded in the same period of the previous year.
“During the period, all sectors posted an expansion, namely the mining index (4.1 per cent), manufacturing index (3.1 per cent), and electricity index (7.8 per cent),” Uzir concluded.
Separately, DOSM, in its Monthly Manufacturing Statistics for May 2024 shared that the sales value of the manufacturing sector amounted to RM154.9 billion in the month, an increase of 5.5 per cent.
On the cumulative performance up to May, he said the sales value of the manufacturing sector reached RM765.5 billion, up 3.3 per cent as compared with the same period in 2023 (5.1 per cent).
“The number of employees went up by 0.9 per cent to a total of 2.38 million persons, while salaries and wages grew by 1.2 per cent to RM41.1 billion,” he said.
Subsequently, the sales value per employee stood at RM321,927, posting a growth of 2.3 per cent, Uzir added.
— Bernama
