KUALA LUMPUR: Industrial output activities continued to power strongly in August with the Industrial Production Index recording an annualised 6.8 per cent growth, beating market expectations.
The Statistics Department said the expansion was supported by positive growth in all indices: manufacturing (7.6 per cent), mining (5.3 per cent) and electricity (3.0 per cent).
In the case of the manufacturing sector, growth was led by food, beverages and tobacco products (9.4 per cent), electrical and electronic products (8.6 per cent) and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (6.9 per cent).
The mining sector output’s strong increase was due to the 14.6 per cent increase in the index for natural gas.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector recorded a 16.5 per cent growth in sales during the month, rising to RM65.1 billion from RM55.9 billion a year ago.
Year-on-year, the significant increase in sales value in August was due to the increase in E&E (19.8 per cent), petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (21.0 per cent) and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (7.2 per cent).