KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) expanded at 6.8% in August 2017 from a year ago, underpinned by the stronger manufac turing output and exceeding a Bloomberg survey of a 5.8% growth.
The Statistics Department said on Thursday the expansion in August was supported by positive growth in all indices: Manufacturing (7.6%), Mining (5.3%) and Electricity (3.0%).
It said on a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector output rose 7.6% in August 2017 after expanding 8% in July 2017.
The major sub-sectors which recorded an expansion in August 2017 were petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (6.9%); electrical and electronic products (8.6%); and food, beverages and tobacco products (9.4%).
As for the mining sector, output increased strongly by 5.3% in August 2017 from just 0.2% in July.
Powering the jump in the output was mainly due an increase of 14.6% in the index for natural gas. However the index for crude oil fell by 1.6% in August 2017.
As for the electricity sector, output expanded 3% in August 2017 on yearly basis.
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