KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Malaysian factories’ sales fell by 33 per cent year-on-year in April to just RM75.8 billion, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today.
The federal government imposed a movement control order (MCO) to stem the spread of Covid-19 starting March this year.
The DOSM said the comparative decline of RM37.3 billion was due to a staggering fall of nearly 70 per cent reported by two major sectors.
“The y-o-y decline in sales value in April 2020 was due to the decrease in Transport and Other Manufactures Product (-69.5 per cent), Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Basic Metal and Fabricated Metal Products (-67.5 per cent) and Electrical and Electronics Product (-39.6 per cent),” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
This was a ten-fold reduction when compared to March 2020, when the downturn was registered at three per cent at RM110.2 billion when compared to RM113.5 billion in March 2019.
Employment in the sector for April 2020 also shrank by 3.2 per cent, meaning over 70,000 jobs were lost from the 2.2 million a year ago.
Salaries and wages in the sector also receded by 6.2 per cent y-o-y, down by RM448.7 million to RM6.8 billion when compared to the same period last year.
“The sales value per employee declined by 30.8 per cent to record RM34,918 as compared with the same month in 2019. Meanwhile, the average salaries and wages per employee was RM3,146 in April 2020,” said Mohd Uzir.
