The sales value of the manufacturing sector posted double-digit growth of 10.3 per cent year-on-year to record RM145.2 billion in February 2023, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
According to chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, the increase was contributed by strong growth in transport equipment and other manufactures (14.3 per cent); food, beverages and tobacco products (14.0 per cent) as well as electrical and electronics products (10.0 per cent) sub-sectors.
“Nonetheless, on a month-on-month comparison, the sales value continued to decrease for three consecutive months to register negative 1.9 per cent,” he said in a statement today.
He also said that the sales value of export-oriented industries which accounted for 71.1 per cent of total sales registered an encouraging expansion of 10.0 per cent in February 2023 compared to 6.9 per cent recorded in January 2023.
“Similarly, the domestic-oriented industries accelerated to 11.0 per cent as against 5.6 per cent recorded in the preceding month,” he said.
Compared to January 2023, Mohd Uzir said export-oriented industries remained on a declining trend since October 2022 with negative 2.1 per cent, while domestic-oriented industries dropped by 1.3 per cent in February 2023.
He said there were 2.35 million persons engaged in the manufacturing sector in February 2023, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2.28 million persons registered a year ago
“The increment was mainly driven by food, beverages and tobacco products (5.6 per cent); electrical and electronic products (4.4 per cent); and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (2.8 per cent) sub-sectors,” he said.
He added that the number of persons engaged in these three sub-sectors encompasses more than half of the total in the manufacturing sector and the number of employees grew 0.3 per cent compared to the preceding month.
“In line with the increase in the number of employees, the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector went up by 4.6 per cent year on year which amounted to RM8.16 billion in February this year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the average monthly salaries and wages per employee posted an increase of 1.3 per cent compared to a year ago with a value of RM3,474, while the sales value per employee rose by 6.8 per cent to record RM61,796.
On the performance for the first two months of this year, Mohd Uzir noted that sales value of the manufacturing sector rose by 8.3 per cent to RM293.2 billion compared to the same period in 2022.
“The number of employees increased by 3.3 per cent to a total of 2.35 million persons with salaries and wages growing by 4.3 per cent to RM16.3 billion.
“Furthermore, sales value per employee registered a growth of 4.9 per cent, amounting to RM124,780,” he added.
