PETALING JAYA: The overall sales value of Malaysia’s manufacturing sector reached RM1.8 trillion in 2023, up marginally by 0.2% compared with 2022, said the statistics department.
It said the sales value of the manufacturing sector declined 4.2% year-on-year to RM149.9 billion in December 2023, marking the largest decline since May 2020 (-20.4%), primarily influenced by the continuous decline in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products sub-sector since June 2023.
Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the sub-sector registered a negative 13.6% in December 2023 against -10.8% in November 2023.
“Moreover, the electrical and electronics products sub-sector dropped by 4.6% (November 2023: -5.3%) while the food, beverages, and tobacco sub-sector slipped by 2.6% (November 2023: 2%).
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The sales value of export-oriented industries, which represented nearly 70% of total sales, further declined by 8.4% in December 2023 after shrinking by 6.9% in November 2023.
“The decrease was predominantly attributable to the drop in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products at negative 24.9%, followed by the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-8.6%); and the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products (-4.8%),” he said.
Meanwhile, Uzir said the domestic-oriented industries, nevertheless, remained upbeat by recording a positive growth of 6.7% in December 2023 (November 2023: 8.8%), primarily underpinned by the sturdy expansion in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment at 11.5%.
Additionally, the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers experienced a growth of 8% while the manufacture of food processing products increased by 6.8%.
On a month-on-month basis, both export and domestic-oriented industries dropped by 3.9% and 1.8% respectively.
The manufacturing sector engaged 2.37 million persons in December 2023, an increase of 1.7% as compared to the 2.34 million persons registered in December 2022.
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