KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's industrial output, as measured by the industrial production index (IPI) increased by 6.1% in July 2017, exceeding a private sector forecast of a 5.1% rise.
According to the Statistics Department, the growth was driven by positive growth in all sectors: manufacturing (8%), electricity (7.9%) and mining (0.2%).
Manufacturing output grew significantly by 8% in July 2017 after registered an increase of 4.7% in June 2017. The expansion was mainly due to higher growth in major sub-sectors.
They were namely: electrical and electronics products (10.5%); food, beverages and tobacco (19.2%); and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3.9%).
The mining sector output increased by 0.2% in July 2017 (June 2017: 2.4%) due to an increase of 5.5% in the index for natural gas. However the index for crude oil fell by 3.9% in July 2017.
The Electricity output increased strongly by 7.9% in July 2017 after rising 2.1% the previous month.
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