Manufacturing sector output increased by 4.4% in December 2018 after expanding by 3.7% in November 2018.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) expanded at a slower-than-expected pace of 3.4% compared with a Bloomberg survey of a 4.1% due to slower manufacturing growth.
The Statistics Department said on Tuesday the increase in October from a year ago was driven by positive growth in manufacturing (4.2%), mining (0.8%) and electricity (4.6%).
“The IPI in September 2017 remained unchanged at 4.7% year-on-year.
“In seasonally adjusted terms, IPI in October 2017 posted a decline of 0.8% month-on-month due to a decrease in the manufacturing index by 1.1%. The mining index and electricity index increased by 0.4% and 2.1%,” it said.
As for the manufacturing sector, the department said output grew at a slower pace of 4.2% in October 2017 after a 5.7% growth in September.
The department said the major sub-sectors which contributed to the increase in October 2017 were: electrical and electronic products (5.9%); petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (2.1%) and food, beverages and tobacco products (7.0%).
“In seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output showed a decreased by 1.1% in October 2017,” it said.
As for the mining sector, output inched up 0.8% in October 2017 (September 2017: 2.1%). The growth in October 2017 was driven by a 1.4% increase in the natural gas index and 0.3% in crude oil index.
On a seasonally adjusted terms, output for the mining sector rose 0.4% against September.
However, the electricity sector output increased by 4.6% in October 2017 on yearly basis.
On seasonally adjusted terms, the electricity output increased by 2.1% in October 2017 compared with September.
For January to October, the IPI expanded by 4.7% compared with the previous corresponding period. The increase was due to the rise in all indices: manufacturing (6.1%), mining (1%) and electricity (2.3%).
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