KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 7): Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) rose 1.3% year-on-year in December 2019, contributed by the increase in the IPI's manufacturing and electricity segments. The IPI's mining component, however, fell.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department said the IPI's manufacturing and electricity segments rose 3.4% and 0.9% respectively.

The mining component declined 4.9% due to the decrease in the crude oil and condensate index, which fell 6.6%, and the natural gas index, which was down 3.4%.

The department said the manufacturing sector output rose 3.4% after growing 2.7% in November 2019.

"The major sub-sectors contributing to the increase in December 2019 were non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (4.6%), petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3.6%) and electrical and electronics products (3.1%).

"The IPI for the year of 2019 recorded a growth of 2.4% as compared to the previous year. The increase was contributed by the growth in manufacturing and electricity sectors, which were 3.6% and 3.3% respectively. Meanwhile, the mining sector declined by 1.7%," it said.

The department said today that in November 2019, the IPI rose 2.1% from a year earlier.