Malaysia’s manufacturing sector sales value fell 1.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM156.7 billion in October 2023, mainly due to the persistent decline in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products sub-sector by 9.5% y-o-y, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the weaker sales were also attributable to the drop in the electrical and electronics products sub-sector which shrank 2.7%.
Despite the y-o-y decline of 1.4% in October 2023, the fall was at a smaller rate compared with the 2.4% y-o-y drop in the preceding month, he said in a statement today.
On a monthly basis, Mohd Uzir said the sales value in the month dipped 0.7% against a growth of 3.7% in September 2023 (RM157.8 million).
On export-oriented industries, Mohd Uzir said the sales value, which accounted for more than two-thirds of total sales, decreased 5.2% y-o-y in October 2023 from a 5.9% y-o-y contraction in the previous month.
The domestic-oriented industries’ sales value grew 9.9% in October 2023 versus 8.2% in the previous month.
On a month-on-month comparison, he said the sales of export-oriented industries shrank 2.1% while the domestic-oriented industries expanded 3.2% in October 2023.
For the first 10 months of 2023, Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector’s sales inched up 0.9% y-o-y to RM1.50 trillion.
In terms of the number of employees, he said the manufacturing sector engaged 2.38 million persons in October 2023, up 2.5%, from 2.32 million persons engaged in the same month last year.
“Resembling the positive trend in employment, the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector rose by 3.4% y-o-y, totalling RM8.15 billion in October 2023,” he said.
On a month-on-month comparison, Mohd Uzir said the salaries and wages ticked up 0.1% from RM8.14 billion recorded in September 2023.
During the January to October 2023 period, he said the number of employees increased 2.5% y-o-y to 2.38 million persons, while salaries and wages grew 3.6% y-o-y to RM80.9 billion. — Bernama