Manufacturing industry capacity utilisation hits 80.8%

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir said the higher capacity rate led to a 2.1% year-on-year increase in the Industrial Production Index for the manufacturing industry in the first quarter.

KUALA LUMPUR: The manufacturing industry operated at 80.8% capacity in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24), up from 79.8% a year ago, according to the Statistics Department.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the higher capacity rate led to a 2.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in the Industrial Production Index (IPI) for the manufacturing industry during the quarter.

“The increased capacity utilisation rate in 1Q24 was driven by performance in January (80.9%) and March (81.6%), both exceeding 80%, while February 2024 stood at 79.8%,” he said in a statement.

Factors such as low demand, inadequate supply of materials and ongoing machinery and equipment repairs or maintenance continued to hamper full utilisation of capacity in the manufacturing sector.

Mohd Uzir added that capacity utilisation in export-oriented industries experienced an uptrend during the quarter, rising by 0.1 percentage points y-o-y to 79.4%.

Meanwhile, domestic-oriented industries expanded significantly to a capacity utilisation rate of 83.7% in 1Q24, up by 2.8 percentage points compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Four states demonstrated capacity utilisation rates surpassing the national rate in 1Q24 – Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan (95.9%), Negri Sembilan (84.9%), Selangor (83.1%) and Johor (81%). — Bernama