KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's sales value of the manufacturing sector recorded a positive growth of 0.7 per cent, reaching RM146.2 billion in February this year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this represented a marginal increase as compared to RM152.7 billion sales value or a 3.2 per cent growth registered in the previous month.
"The (February) increase was supported by an expansion in the transport equipment and other manufactures at 7.3 per cent, and the non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.7 per cent) sub-sectors," he said in a statement today (April 8).
He said the sales value of the electrical and electronics products sub-sector, which accounted for 34.1 per cent of the total sales, grew by 1.3 per cent.
DoSM said that the sales value of export-oriented industries, which represented 69.6 per cent of total sales, fell by 1.3 per cent in February (January 2024: 0.1 per cent), largely attributable to the continuous contraction in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which registered a negative 8.8 per cent.
"Meanwhile, the momentum of sales value for domestic-oriented industries remained positive, expanding by 5.6 per cent in February (January 2024: 10.8 per cent).
"The expansion was primarily bolstered by the increases registered in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (9.1 per cent), manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (9.0 per cent), and manufacture of food processing (5.2 per cent).
"The sales value of domestic-oriented industries decreased by 5.8 per cent as compared to the positive 2.3 per cent recorded in January this year," said the department.
Summarising the manufacturing sector performance up to February, Mohd Uzir said that to date, the sales value of the manufacturing sector achieved RM298.9 billion, a 1.9 per cent growth as compared to the first two months of last year (January-February 2023: 8.3 per cent). — Bernama
