Malaysia's March manufacturing sales value grows 1.4% to RM158.4bil

KUALA LUMPUR:The sales value of Malaysia's manufacturing sector expanded by 1.4 per cent, year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM158.4 billion in March 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in the sales value marked a positive y-o-y trend for the third consecutive month, which was primarily driven by a 9.6 per cent growth in non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products.

"The other sub-sectors are furniture, paper products and printing (3.4 per cent) as well as electrical and electronics products (2.3 per cent).

"On a month-on-month comparison, the sales value improved by 8.3 per cent as compared to the negative 4.3 per cent recorded in February 2024," he said.

Mohd Uzir said the sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for 70.4 per cent of total sales, dropped marginally by 0.2 per cent in March 2024, following a larger decline of 1.7 per cent in the preceding month.

"The decrease was attributable to the decline in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-6.7 per cent), manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-5.5 per cent) and manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (-3.0 per cent) sub-sectors," he said.

Conversely, Mohd Uzir said the domestic-oriented industries remained vibrant, growing by 5.4 per cent in March 2024 compared to 6.5 per cent the previous month.

"The expansion was driven by the double-digit growth of the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, which accelerated to 16.6 per cent. Additionally, the manufacture of food processing products and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products contributed to the growth by registering 7.7 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively," he added.

Mohd Uzir noted that the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector grew by 0.7 per cent y-o-y to record RM8.23 billion in March 2024, while the average monthly salaries and wages per employee posted a 0.2 per cent increase with a value of RM3,482 while the sales value per employee up by 0.9 per cent to RM67,022. - Bernama