KUALA LUMPUR: The sales value of Malaysia's manufacturing sector expanded by 1.4 per cent, year-on-year (YoY) to RM158.4 billion in March 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in the sales value marked a positive YoY trend for the third consecutive month.
He added that this was primarily driven by a 9.6 per cent growth in non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products.
"The other sub-sectors are wood, furniture, paper products and printing (3.4 per cent) as well as electrical and electronics products (2.3 per cent). "On a month-on-month comparison, the sales value improved by 8.3 per cent as compared to the negative 4.3 per cent recorded in February 2024," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Uzir said the sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for 70.4 per cent of total sales, dropped marginally by 0.2 per cent in March 2024, following a larger decline of 1.7 per cent in the preceding month.
He noted that the decrease was attributable to the decline in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-6.7 per cent), manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-5.5 per cent) and manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (-3.0 per cent) sub-sectors.
Meanwhile, he said the domestic-oriented industries remained vibrant, growing by 5.4 per cent in March 2024 compared to 6.5 per cent 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 per cent.
Additionally, the manufacture of food processing products and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products contributed to the growth by registering 7.7 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively. "As compared to the previous month, the sales value of domestic-oriented industries grew by 4.7 per cent, contrasting a decrease of five per cent in February 2024," Mohd Uzir said.
He also noted that the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector grew by 0.7 per cent YoY to record RM8.23 billion in March 2024.
Mohd Uzir said on a month-on-month comparison, the salaries and wages edged down by 0.2 per cent from RM8.24 billion recorded in February 2024.
Moreover, he said the average monthly salaries and wages per employee posted an increase of 0.2 per cent with a value of RM3,482 while the sales value per employee up by 0.9 per cent to RM67,022.