IPI in April 2023 declined 3.3%

Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI), which consists of three sectors namely mining, manufacturing and electricity, contracted by 3.3 % in April 2023, weighed down by all sectors, against a positive 3.2 % recorded in the preceding month.

The Statistics Department (DoSM) which released the report said mining recorded a negative 4.9 % (March 2023: 0.8 %); manufacturing with a negative 3.0 % (March 2023: 4.1 %); and electricity with a negative 2.0 % (March 2023: 0.4 %).

In comparison with the preceding month, the IPI declined by 10.8 % after registering a growth of 8.4 % in March 2023.

The deterioration of the manufacturing sector by 3.0 % in April was its first contraction since July 2021, mainly influenced by the decline of 3.5 % in export-oriented industries (March 2023: 3.6 %).

In addition, the contraction of export-oriented industries in April 2023 was the first recorded in 34 months, attributable to the decline in the manufacture of rubber products by 16.5 % and the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products which posted a negative 1.8 %.

In the meantime, the domestic-oriented industries fell 2.1 % particularly attributed to the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (-15.5 %); manufacture of beverages (-5.5 %); and the manufacture of food processing products (-4.9 %).

On a month-on-month comparison, the manufacturing sector shrank by 11.4 % after registering 7.8 % in March.

The production in the mining sector slowed by 4.9 % in April, weighed down by a continuous downturn in the natural gas index by 7.8 % and a marginal drop of 0.9 % in the crude oil and condensate index.

The mining index posted a double-digit decline of 10.7 % compared with an increase of 8.5 % recorded in March.

Similarly, the electricity output dropped by 2.0 % in April after recording slight growth of 0.4 % in March.

On a month-on-month comparison, the electricity index weakened by 4.8 % against a growth of 15.1 % recorded in the preceding month.

For the first four months of 2023, the IPI moderated to 1.3 % against the same period of 2022.

During the period, the manufacturing and mining indices increased by 1.8 % and 0.3 % respectively, while the electricity index went down by 1.2 %.