Malaysia’s manufacturing sales grew 11.6% in September 2021 to RM135.3 billion as compared to the same month in 2020, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Sales value increased by 6.9% against the previous month, driven by the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic product sub-sectors (29.2%), especially in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum product industries.
“The expansion was also attributed to the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sector (12%), supported by the manufacture of food product industry, as well as the electrical and electronics (E&E) product sub-sector (10.8%) mainly in the manufacture of computer, optical and electronics products,” chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov 9).
Sales value of export-oriented industries which accounted for 74% of total sales value recorded an increase of 15.9% (RM100.2 billion), while domestic-oriented industries posted an increment of 1.1% in September 2021 as compared to the same month in 2020.
According to the DOSM, the growth in sales value of export-oriented industries was in line with the double-digit growth in external trade exports and the price factors that remained favourable.
On a month-on-month comparison, export and domestic-oriented industries recorded positive growth of 5.2% and 12.3% respectively.
Mohd Uzir added that the total number of employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in September 2021 was 2.23 million persons, up 1.6% from 2.19 million persons in September 2020.
The increase was contributed by E&E products (4.5%), petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (1.3%), and wood, furniture, paper products and printing (1.5%).
The report also stated that salaries and wages paid amounted to RM7.48 billion, an increase of 3.6% or RM261.8 million in September 2021 against the same month of the preceding year.
In the third quarter of 2021 (3Q21), sales value of the manufacturing sector grew 6.4% to RM381.8 billion as compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
The increase was driven by petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (34.2%), food, beverage and tobacco products (8.8%), and E&E products (2.9%).
The number of employees and their salaries and wages rose 1.6% and 2.3% respectively in 3Q21.
For the January to September 2021 period, sales value of the manufacturing sector increased by 15.1% to RM1.13 trillion as compared to the same period in 2020.
The number of employees and salaries and wages recorded growth of 1.6% and 2.5% to 2.23 million persons and RM66.6 billion respectively. Sales value per employee for the first nine months of 2021 also grew 13.2% to RM505,404.
Source: Bernama