Stats Dept: Malaysia’s manufacturing sales value expands 11.2pc in February

KUALA LUMPUR, April 11 — Malaysia’s manufacturing sales value in February 2022 grew 11.2 per cent to RM131.6 billion compared with the same month in 2021, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.

In a statement today, the DOSM said the sales value, however, decreased 5.3 per cent compared with the previous month.

Chief statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth in sales value for this month was driven by the food, beverages & tobacco subsector (16.4 per cent), especially in the manufacture of food products industries.

“The expansion was also attributed to the petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products subsector (12.6 per cent), supported by the manufacture of coke & refined petroleum products industries, as well as the electrical & electronics products subsector (9.8 per cent), mainly in the manufacture of computer, electronic & optical products,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said sales value for export-oriented industries, which accounted for 71.2 per cent of total sales value, increased 12.7 per cent while domestic-oriented industries posted an increment of 7.6 per cent in February 2022 compared with the same month in 2021.

“The growth of sales value for export-oriented industries was in a similar trend with the external trade exports and the price factors that remain favourable,” he said.

On month-on-month comparison, he said export-oriented industries recorded a decline of 5.1 per cent while domestic-oriented industries decreased 5.7 per cent.

Mohd Uzir said the total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in February 2022 was 2.28 million persons, an increase of 2.1 per cent compared with 2,228,415 persons in February 2021.

He said the increase was contributed by the electrical & electronic products (4.7 per cent), wood, furniture, paper products & printing (3.2 per cent), and transport equipment & other manufactures products (1.7 per cent).

The report also stated that salaries & wages paid amounted to RM7.81 billion, an increase of 3.9 per cent or RM293 million in February 2022 compared with the same month of the preceding year while the sales value per employee increased 8.8 per cent to RM57,838 compared with the same month in 2021.

Meanwhile, the average salaries & wages per employee was RM3,429 in February 2022, the report said. — Bernama