Malaysia's manufacturing sales value up 5.7% to RM153.2bil in April - DoSM

KUALA LUMPUR: The sales value of Malaysia’s manufacturing sector expanded by 5.7 per cent year-on-year to RM153.2 billion in April 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that this marked the highest growth in 13 months due to a lower value base effect.

"The increase was mainly propelled by sales in the sub-sectors of transport equipment and other manufactures (16.9 per cent), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (12.8 per cent), as well as electrical and electronics products (2.7 per cent).

"Nonetheless, the manufacturing sector sales value contracted by 3.3 per cent from RM158.4 billion registered in the preceding month,” he said in a statement today.

DoSM said the sales value of export-oriented industries, which contributed 69.9 per cent of total sales, turned upward by 3.4 per cent from a negative 0.1 per cent in March 2024.

It said the increase was attributable to the expansion in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (9.9 per cent), the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (8.3 per cent), and the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products (2.9 per cent) industries.

Likewise, the department said that domestic-oriented industries strengthened further by registering strong growth of 11.4 per cent in April 2024 (March 2024: 5.4 per cent).

"The acceleration was propelled by the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, and the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, which surged by 23.1 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively,” it said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said that the sales value of the manufacturing sector for the first four months of 2024 reached RM610.6 billion, up by 2.7 per cent as compared to the same period a year before.

"During this period, the number of employees went up by 1.0 per cent to a total of 2.37 million persons, while salaries and wages grew by 1.2 per cent to RM32.9 billion.

"Consequently, the sales value per employee stood at RM257,337 during the period, posting a growth of 1.7 per cent,” he added. - Bernama