KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) in May rose at slower pace of 2.7% from year ago but the growth did exceed a survey of 2.5% growth.
The Statistics Department said on Tuesday the growth was slower than April's on-year growth of 3% due to the decline in the mining output by 1.1%
The IPI in May rose 0.9% from April.
For the January to May of 2016, the IPI expanded by 3.1% from the previous corresponding period.
The expansion was supported by the increase in manufacturing index (3.9%) and electricity index (9.0%). The mining index fell 0.3%.
Commenting on the IPI in May, the department said the slower growth from a year ago was due to the 1.1% drop in mining ouutput. However, the manufacturing and electricity sectors expanded 3.6% and 9.6% respectively.
“In seasonally adjusted terms, the IPI in May 2016 grew 0.9% month-on-month following an increase in the mining index (1.3%) and manufacturing index (0.4%). Meanwhile, the electricity index decreased by 0.8%,” it said.
Commenting on the manufacturing sector, it said in May the sector output expanded further 3.6%, but still slower than the growth of 3.3% in April 2016.
Major sub-sectors which expanded were: Electrical and electronics Products (8.3%); Petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (5.1%) and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.8%).
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, the department said manufacturing output rose 0.4% in May 2016.
However, the mining sector output contracted 1.1% in May 2016 versus the 0.6% growth in April 2016 mainly due to the 5.2% decrease in the crude oil index. However, the natural gas index expanded by 4.5%.
On a seasonally adjusted terms, output for mining sector grew 1.3% from April 2016.
As for the electricity sector, output rose at a stronger pace of 9.6% in May 2016 after expanding 9.4% in April 2016.
On a seasonally adjusted terms, electricity sector output decreased 0.8% from April.
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