KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI), which consists of three sectors namely mining, manufacturing and electricity, contracted by 3.3 per cent in April 2023, weighed down by all sectors, against a positive 3.2 per cent recorded in the preceding month.
The Statistics Department (DoSM) which released the report said mining recorded a negative 4.9 per cent (March 2023: 0.8 per cent); manufacturing with a negative 3.0 per cent (March 2023: 4.1 per cent); and electricity with a negative 2.0 per cent (March 2023: 0.4 per cent).
In comparison with the preceding month, the IPI declined by 10.8 per cent after registering a growth of 8.4 per cent in March 2023.
The deterioration of the manufacturing sector by 3.0 per cent in April was its first contraction since July 2021, mainly influenced by the decline of 3.5 per cent in export-oriented industries (March 2023: 3.6 per cent).
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 per cent and the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products which posted a negative 1.8 per cent.
In the meantime, the domestic-oriented industries fell 2.1 per cent particularly attributed to the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (-15.5 per cent); manufacture of beverages (-5.5 per cent); and the manufacture of food processing products (-4.9 per cent).
On a month-on-month comparison, the manufacturing sector shrank by 11.4 per cent after registering 7.8 per cent in March.
The production in the mining sector slowed by 4.9 per cent in April, weighed down by a continuous downturn in the natural gas index by 7.8 per cent and a marginal drop of 0.9 per cent in the crude oil and condensate index.
The mining index posted a double-digit decline of 10.7 per cent compared with an increase of 8.5 per cent recorded in March.
Similarly, the electricity output dropped by 2.0 per cent in April after recording slight growth of 0.4 per cent in March.
On a month-on-month comparison, the electricity index weakened by 4.8 per cent against a growth of 15.1 per cent recorded in the preceding month.
For the first four months of 2023, the IPI moderated to 1.3 per cent against the same period of 2022.
During the period, the manufacturing and mining indices increased by 1.8 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively, while the electricity index went down by 1.2 per cent. - Bernama
