KUALA LUMPUR: The manufacturing sector's sales value for September 2024 reached RM162.3 billion, continuing to improve by 2.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin however said that the growth slowed compared to the 7.7 per cent growth recorded in August.
He said the rise was mainly driven by the electrical and electronics products sub-sector, which grew by 5.8 per cent after a 10.3 per cent increase in August.
"The growth was also supported by the food, beverages, and tobacco sub-sector, with an increase of 5.6 per cent, and the non-metallic mineral products, basic metal, and fabricated metal products, increased by 5.1 per cent," he said in a statement.
On a monthly basis, Mohd Uzir said the sales value eased by 1.0 per cent from RM163.9 billion in August 2024.
Export-oriented industries, which contributed 72.6 per cent of the sales value, moderated to 3.0 per cent increase in September 2024 compared to 7.7 per cent growth a month earlier.
The key contributors to the September's growth included the manufacture of computers, electronics, and optical products (6.9 per cent) and the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (4.6 per cent).
"Meanwhile, domestic-oriented industries grew by 2.5 per cent, down from 7.6 per cent in August, impacted by a 7.3 per cent decline in the sales value of manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers industry versus a 10.4 per cent increase in the preceding month," he added.
Offsetting the decline, Mohd Uzir said that the manufacture of food processing products increased by 6.9 per cent, along with the fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (7.9 per cent) and the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (4.1 per cent).
Compared to the previous month, the sales value of both export and domestic-oriented industries dropped by 1.1 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.
"There were 2.39 million employees in the manufacturing sector in September 2024, marking a 0.8 per cent increase compared to a 1.0per cent growth in August 2024."
"The increase was observed largely in the food, beverages, and tobacco (2.4 per cent) and the non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (1.8 per cent)," he said.
On monthly basis, Mohd Uzir noted that the number of employees grew by 0.5 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent in August.
Meanwhile, salaries and wages in the sector rose by 1.2 per cent y-o-y in September, reaching RM8.23 billion that represents a 1.4 per cent increase, following a slight decline of 0.1 per cent in August.
He said this led to an increase in average monthly salaries and wages per employee by 0.4 per cent y-o-y to RM3,442. Simultaneously, the sales value per employee rose by 2.1 per cent to record RM67,861.
For the third quarter of 2024, Mohd Uzir said sales of the manufacturing sector reached RM483.2 billion, reflecting a growth of 6.5 per cent from 5.7 per cent in the second quarter, attributable to the increase in the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector (12.3 per cent); and electrical and electronics products (8.1 per cent) sub-sectors.
In the first nine months of this year, he said the sector's cumulative sales value reached RM1,404.8 billion, a 4.6 per cent increase compared to 1.2 per cent growth in the same period in 2023.