KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) increased 5.1 per cent in March 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year, driven by growth in three indices, namely manufacturing, electricity and mining, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the manufacturing index rose 6.9 per cent, electricity index inched up 0.8 per cent, and mining index added 0.3 per cent.
He said for the first quarter 2022, the IPI grew 4.5 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year, attributed by growth in the manufacturing index (6.3 per cent) and electricity index (3.7 per cent), while mining index contracted 1.8 per cent.
“On a month-on-month basis, the IPI decreased 8.6 per cent, supported by expansion in all components of indices,” he said in a statement, today.
Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector output year-on-year increased 6.9 per cent in March 2022 after recording a growth of 5.2 per cent in February 2022.
The main subsectors contributed to the growth in the manufacturing sector in March 2022 were electrical and electronics products (18.6 per cent), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.6 per cent), and food, beverages and tobacco products (4.1 per cent).
“Simultaneously, the growth of the manufacturing sector was driven by both of the export-oriented industry (7.8 per cent) and domestic-oriented industry (5.1 per cent).
“The growth for the export-oriented industries was mainly supported by the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products, and manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products,” he said.
Meanwhile, the increase in the domestic-oriented industry was attributed by the manufacture of food products and manufacture of basic metals. The performance of the manufacturing sector was also in line with the encouraging growth of exports.
On month-on-month comparison, the manufacturing sector grew 8.5 per cent compared to February 2022, driven by higher capacity utilisation, especially in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products, and transport equipment and other manufactures subsectors.
The mining sector output grew 0.3 per cent in March 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year.
The increase was driven by the positive growth of 5.7 per cent in the natural gas index, while the crude oil and condensate index deteriorated 6.8 per cent.
The mining index registered an increase of 7.2 per cent from the previous month.
The electricity sector output rose 0.8 per cent in March 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year.
Meanwhile, in terms of month-on-month comparison, the electricity index increased 13.0 per cent. — Bernama
