KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose by 2.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in May 2024, driven by steady output growth in the manufacturing sector, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the IPI remained positive in May 2024 (April 2024: 6.1 per cent), with the manufacturing sector growing by 4.6 per cent (April 2024: 4.9 per cent) and a 4.2 per cent expansion in electricity output (April 2024: 7.8 per cent).

However, the mining sector output plummeted by 6.9 per cent, in contrast with the double-digit growth of 10.0 per cent recorded in April 2024. Compared to 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.

Mohd Uzir noted that the growth momentum was also reflected in the country’s manufactured goods export performance, which expanded by 13.5 per cent in the month under review (April 2024: 11.9 per cent).

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he said export-oriented industries bounced back by nine per cent from -11.6 per cent in April 2024, while the growth of domestic-oriented industries output remained sound at 6.4 per cent after registering 9.5 per cent in the preceding month.

On another note, Mohd 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 to the previous month, the domestic-oriented industries expanded by 2.3 per cent (April 2024: -1.3 per cent) while the generation of electricity grew by 4.2 per cent y-o-y in May 2024 (April 2024: 7.8 per cent).

On a m-o-m basis, the electricity index rebounded to 5.6 per cent (April 2024: -4.0 per cent), he said.

He also highlighted that the IPI showed an upward trend in several countries In May 2024, such as the United States, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan, however, it slowed down in China and South Korea while Thailand experienced a decline.

For the January to May 2024 period, 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),” Mohd 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 2024, he said that 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, Mohd Uzir added. — Bernama