KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 11): Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) rose 6.1% in July from a year earlier on higher manufacturing, mining and electricity output.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department said manufacturing and mining output climbed 8% and 0.2% respectively. Electricity production grew 7.9%.

"Manufacturing output grew significantly by 8.0 percent in July 2017, after registering an increase of 4.7 percent in June 2017. The expansion was mainly due to higher growth in major sub-sectors, namely: Electrical and Electronics Products (10.5%); Food, Beverages and Tobacco (19.2%); and Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber and Plastic Products (3.9%).

"The mining sector output increased by 0.2 percent in July 2017 (June 2017: 2.4%), due to an increase of 5.5 percent in the index for Natural Gas. However the index for Crude Oil fell by 3.9 percent in July 2017," the department said.

In June, the IPI rose 4% from a year earlier, according to the department.