KUALA LUMPUR: The sales value of the manufacturing sector expanded by eight per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM156.2 billion in March 2023 mainly lifted by double-digit growth in transport equipment and other manufactures (14.6 per cent y-o-y) and electrical and electronics products (12.7 per cent y-o-y) sub-sectors, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in comparison with the preceding month, the sales value returned to record positive growth of 7.6 per cent after registering a continuous decline since December 2022.
"The sales value of export-oriented industries, which contributed more than two-thirds or 71.7 per cent of total sales, rose 7.3 per cent in March 2023 after registering 9.9 per cent growth in February 2023,” he said in a statement today.
He said the increment was mainly attributable to the strong growth registered in manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products (14.1 per cent y-o-y) and manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (12.7 per cent y-o-y).
Mohd Uzir said similarly, domestic-oriented industries posted steady growth of 9.9 per cent versus 11.3 per cent in February 2023 underpinned by the growth manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (18.6 per cent y-o-y) and manufacture of food processing products (9.9 per cent y-o-y).
He said 2.35 million persons were engaged in the manufacturing sector in March 2023, an increase by 2.8 per cent from 2.29 million persons registered a year ago mainly contributed by the food, beverages and tobacco products; electrical and electronic products; and wood, furniture, paper products and printing sub-sectors.
"The number of persons engaged in these three sub-sectors encompasses more than half of the total in the manufacturing sector,” he said.
He said the number of employees grew slightly by 0.1 per cent compared with the preceding month.
Meanwhile, he said salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector went up by 4.2 per cent y-o-y, which amounted to RM8.17 billion in March 2023, in line with the increase in the number of employees.
He said the salaries and wages increased marginally by 0.1 per cent against the previous month.
Additionally, he said the average monthly salaries and wages per employee posted an increase of 1.3 per cent compared with a year ago with a value of RM3,475 while the sales value per employee rose by 5.1 per cent to record RM66,430.
On quarterly performance, Mohd Uzir said the sales value of the manufacturing sector rose 8.2 per cent to RM449.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023 from the same quarter in 2022 contributed by electrical and electronics products; petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastics products; and food, beverages and tobacco products sub-sectors.
"The number of employees added by 2.8 per cent to record a total of 2.35 million persons with salaries and wages grew by 4.3 per cent to RM24.5 billion,” he said.
He said sales value per employee for the first quarter registered a growth of 5.3 per cent, amounting to RM191,141.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said DoSM is conducting the Economic Consensus this year and has launched OpenDOSM NextGen, an open-source data-sharing platform.
More information about the consensus can be found the DoSM’s website, www.dosm.gov.my. - Bernama
