KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) saw a slight increase of 0.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in November 2023 backed by modest expansion in the mining, and electricity sectors.
The mining sector was up at 1.9 per cent (October 2023: 7.4 per cent), while the electricity sector by 4.2 per cent (October 2023: 5.6 per cent).
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector was down to negative 0.1 per cent following positive growth for two consecutive months (October 2023: 0.9 per cent). On a month-on-month comparison, the IPI returned to negative territory (-0.9 per cent) as compared with the positive 1.9 per cent recorded in the previous month.
The decrease in manufacturing output was due to the lower output production in the export-oriented industries which dropped by 2.7 per cent (October 2023: -1.6 per cent).
The contraction was due to a fall in the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products (-8.6 per cent); manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-1.8 per cent); and the manufacture of wood & products of wood & cork (-1.9 per cent).
This was in line with the country's export performance, which had been trending downward since March 2023 and recorded a negative 5.9 per cent in November.
In comparison with the preceding month, the export-oriented industries slipped by 2.2 per cent.
On the other hand, the domestic-oriented industries remained resilient by registering an increase of 5.8 per cent in November 2023.
This was due to double-digit growth of 10.9 per cent in the manufacture of food processing products; manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment by 8.9 per cent; and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products by 6.9 per cent.
In comparison with the preceding month, the domestic-oriented industries rebounded to 3.7 per cent against the negative 1.4 per cent registered in October 2023.
For the first eleven months of 2023, the IPI rose at a slower rate of 1.0 per cent as compared to the same period of the previous year (January - November 2022: 7.1 per cent).
The increase was supported by the electricity index (2.3 per cent); manufacturing index (0.9 per cent); and mining index (0.6 per cent).