Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the decrease was primarily due to the substantial drop in the petroleum, chemical, rubber, and plastic products sub-sectors by 10.8% (October 2023: -9.5%); and the electrical and electronics products sub-sector which fell by 5.3% (October 2023: -2.7%).
“As compared to the preceding month, the sales value fell by 1.1% as against RM156.7 billion recorded in October 2023 (-0.7%),” he said in a statement today.
Uzir said the sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for more than two-thirds of total sales, posted a wider decline of 6.9% in November 2023 as compared to the negative 5.2% registered in October 2023.
He said the decline was predominantly attributed to the decrease in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products at negative 10%; followed by the manufacture of computer, electronics, and optical products (-6.6 %); and the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-3.8%).
Nonetheless, Uzir said the domestic-oriented industries sustained positive momentum by recording 8.8% in November 2023 as compared to 9.7% in October 2023.
He said the expansion was fuelled primarily by the strong growth in the manufacture of food products (11.4%); the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers (11.3%); and the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (11.3%).
“On a month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, export-oriented industries dropped by 3.6% while domestic-oriented industries expanded by 5.3%,” he said.
Rise in the number of employees
Meanwhile, Uzir said the manufacturing sector engaged 2.38 million people in November 2023, an increase of 2.1% as compared to the 2.33 million registered in November 2022.
“The increment was mainly attributable to the rise in the number of employees in the food, beverages, and tobacco (6.9%); non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (2.3%); and electrical and electronic products (0.7%) sub-sectors,” he said.
However, on a m-o-m basis, he said the number of employees in the manufacturing sector declined slightly by 0.04%.
In tandem with the addition in the number of employees, Uzir said the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector rose by 3.3% y-o-y, totalling RM8.1 billion in November 2023.
Meanwhile, on a m-o-m comparison, it posted a marginal growth of 0.04% as against 0.1% registered in October 2023.
“Furthermore, the sales value per employee decreased by 4.7% to record RM65,193 while the average salaries and wages per employee in November 2023 was RM3,428, which rose by 1.1% y-o-y,” he said.
For the first eleven months of 2023, Uzir said the sales value of the manufacturing sector attained RM1.65 trillion, which grew marginally by 0.6% as compared to the same period in the preceding year (January – November 2022: 16.6%).
“During this period, the number of employees increased by 2.1%, to record a total of 2.38 million persons while salaries and wages advanced by 3.6%, amounting to RM89 billion.
“However, the sales value per employee declined by 1.8%, amounting to RM701,986,” he said.