Manufacturing Sector Expands 8% In March With Sales Value Of RM156.2 Billion: DoSM

The Department of Statistics Malaysia said the expansion of 8.0 % in the sales value of the Manufacturing sector for March was mainly supported by the double-digit growth in Transport equipment & other manufacturers (14.6%) and Electrical & electronics products (12.7%) sub-sectors. In comparison with the preceding month, the sales value returned to record positive growth of 7.6% after registering a continuous decline since December 2022. DOSM in its latest report indicated Malaysia had generated RM156.2 billion in sales value for the sector.

The sales value of export-oriented industries which contributed more than two-thirds or 71.7% of total sales, rose 7.3% after registering 9.9% growth in February 2023. Similarly, the domestic-oriented industries posted steady growth of 9.9% (February 2023: 11.3%). As compared to February 2023, both export and domestic-oriented industries improved to 8.6% and 5.1% respectively.

There were 2.35 million persons engaged in the Manufacturing sector in March 2023 which increased by 2.8% as against 2.29 million persons registered a year ago. The increase it said was mainly supported by the Food, beverages & tobacco products (5.3%); Electrical & electronic products (4.2%); and Wood, furniture, paper products & printing (2.3%) sub-sectors. The number of persons engaged in these three sub-sectors encompasses more than half of the total in the Manufacturing sector. As compared to the preceding month, the number of employees grew slightly by 0.1%.

In line with the increase in the number of employees, the salaries & wages paid in the Manufacturing sector went up by 4.2% year-on-year which amounted to RM8.17 billion. In comparison with the previous month, the salaries & wages increased marginally by 0.1% from RM8.16 billion. In addition, the average monthly salaries & wages per employee posted an increase of 1.3% as compared to a year ago with a value of RM3,475 while the sales value per employee rose by 5.1% to a record RM66,430.

Summarising the performance for the first quarter of 2023, the sales value of the Manufacturing sector rose by 8.2% to register RM449.4 billion as against the same quarter in 2022. The growth was contributed by Electrical & electronics products (10.6%); Petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastics products (7.7%); and Food, beverages & tobacco products (6.0%) sub-sectors. The number of employees were added by 2.8% to record a total of 2.35 million persons with salaries & wages grew by 4.3% to RM24.5 billion. Furthermore, sales value per employee registered a growth of 5.3%, amounting to RM191,141.