PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) rose by 2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in September as compared to a 4.1% increase in August.
The September reading was short of the 3.7% expansion forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.
The Statistics Department said the slower growth in IPI for the month was due to the decline in upstream oil and gas activities but offset by growth in manufacturing, which rose by 3.2% (August 2024: 6.5%), coupled with the electricity sector which rose by 3.9% (August 2024: 4.2%).
“The production of the mining sector continued to decline for the third consecutive month, recording negative 2.2% (August 2024: 6.4%),” chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement yesterday.
The rise in output of the manufacturing sector in September was primarily driven by expansion in export-oriented industries output at 3.4%, which was slower than the 6.3% growth recorded in the preceding month.
The Statistics Department noted the production growth in the manufacturing for the month was mainly driven by steady increases in rubber product manufacturing, followed by computer, electronics, and optical product manufacturing.
The department noted the fall in the mining sector’s output in September was primarily influenced by crude oil and condensate production, which declined by 11.4%.
However, this was offset by a rebound in natural gas production which grew by 4.5% during the month.
The generation of electricity grew by 3.9% y-o-y in September.
On a quarterly basis, in the third quarter of 2024 (3Q24), the IPI rose by 3.9%, compared to 4.5% in 2Q24.
This increase was driven by the manufacturing sector, which grew by 5.8%, up from 4.9% in the previous quarter.
The IPI for the mining sector in 3Q24 declined by 4.6%, while the electricity sector grew by 5.1%.
Quarter-on-quarter, the IPI rose by 3.7%.
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