Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the IPI remained positive in May 2024 (April: 6.1%), with the manufacturing sector growing by 4.6% (April: 4.9%) and a 4.2% expansion in electricity output (April: 7.8%).
However, the mining sector output plummeted by 6.9% in contrast with the double-digit growth of 10% recorded in April 2024.
“Compared to the previous month, the IPI rebounded to 3.5% from -7.6%,” he said.
“The steady output growth in the manufacturing sector was bolstered by the acceleration in export-oriented industries, which grew by 3.7% against 2.6% recorded in April 2024.
“This marked the highest growth registered since November 2022 (5.1%), amid a strong rebound in the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products to 8.4% (April: -1.4%), and a 4.8% increase in the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (April: 2.7%),” he said in a statement.
Uzir noted that the growth momentum was also reflected in the country’s manufactured goods export performance, which expanded by 13.5% in the month under review (April: 11.9%).
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he said export-oriented industries bounced back by 9% from -11.6% in April 2024, while the growth of domestic-oriented industries output remained sound at 6.4% after registering 9.5% in the preceding month.
On another note, Uzir said the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers contributed a significant increase of 10.3%, followed by the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (9.8%), and the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (6.5%).
Compared to the previous month, the domestic-oriented industries expanded by 2.3% (April: -1.3%) while the generation of electricity grew by 4.2% y-o-y in May 2024 (April: 7.8%).
“On a m-o-m basis, the electricity index rebounded to 5.6% (April: -4%),” he said.
He also highlighted that the IPI showed an upward trend in several countries in May 2024, such as the US, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan. However, it slowed down in China and South Korea, while Thailand experienced a decline.
For the January to May 2024 period, he said the IPI improved by 3.6% as compared to 1.9% recorded in the same period of the previous year.
“During the period, all sectors posted an expansion, namely the mining index (4.1%), manufacturing index (3.1%), and electricity index (7.8%),” Uzir concluded.
Separately, in its monthly Manufacturing Statistics for May 2024, the department shared that the sales value of the manufacturing sector amounted to RM154.9 billion, an increase of 5.5%.
On the cumulative performance up to May 2024, he said the sales value of the manufacturing sector reached RM765.5 billion, up 3.3% compared with the same period in 2023 (5.1%).
“The number of employees went up by 0.9% to a total of 2.38 million persons, while salaries and wages grew by 1.2% to RM41.1 billion,” he said.
“Subsequently, the sales value per employee stood at RM321,927, posting a growth of 2.3%,” Uzir added.