In a statement today, Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the decline in August was also attributable to the contraction in the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sectors by 6.6% and the wood, furniture, paper products and printing sub-sectors by 0.1%.

On a monthly basis, he said the sales value in the month rebounded to 5.8% versus a 2.4% contraction in July.

On export-oriented industries, Uzir said the sales value, which accounted for 72.7% of total sales, decreased 6.7% in August from a contraction of 7% in July, mainly owing to the lower sales in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-19.7%), manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-15.1%) and the manufacture of rubber products (-8.8%).

On the domestic-oriented industries, he said the sales value grew 7.2% in August versus 9.1% in the previous month.

For the first eight months of 2023, Uzir said the sales value of the manufacturing sector stood at RM1.2 trillion, up 1.7% as compared to the same period in the preceding year.

In terms of the number of employees, he said the manufacturing sector engaged 2.36 million persons in August, up 2% from 2.31 million persons engaged in the same period last year.

“In line with the increase in employment, the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector grew 3% y-o-y, amounting to RM8 billion in August 2023,” he said.

On a month-on-month comparison, Uzir said the salaries and wages increased 0.9% from RM7.9 billion recorded in July.

During the January to August period, the number of employees rose 2% y-o-y to 2.36 million persons, while salaries and wages grew 3.7% y-o-y to RM64.6 billion, he added.