In a statement today, chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the increase in the sales value marked a positive y-o-y trend for the third consecutive month, which was primarily driven by a 9.6% growth in non-metallic mineral, basic metal and fabricated metal products.

“The other sub-sectors are furniture, paper products and printing (3.4%) as well as electrical and electronics products (2.3%).

“On a month-on-month comparison, the sales value improved by 8.3% compared to the negative 4.3% recorded in February 2024,” he said.

The sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for 70.4% of total sales, dropped marginally by 0.2% in March 2024, following a larger decline of 1.7% in the preceding month.

“The decrease was attributable to the decline in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-6.7%), manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-5.5%) and manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (-3.0%) sub-sectors,” he said.

Conversely, the domestic-oriented industries remained vibrant, growing by 5.4% in March 2024 compared to 6.5% the previous month.

“The expansion was driven by the double-digit growth of the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, which accelerated to 16.6%. Additionally, the manufacture of food processing products and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products contributed to the growth by registering 7.7% and 6.5%, respectively,” he added.

Uzir noted that the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector grew by 0.7% y-o-y to record RM8.23 billion in March 2024, while the average monthly salaries and wages per employee posted a 0.2% increase with a value of RM3,482 while the sales value per employee was up by 0.9% to RM67,022.