KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) increased 4.3% in January 2022 from a year earlier, supported by manufacturing and electricity output growth despite a slump in mining production, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Friday (March 11).

In a statement, DOSM chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the expansion in the IPI was due to the 6.8% and 7.7% increments in the manufacturing and electricity components respectively.

"Meanwhile, the mining index recorded a decline of 5.1%," Mohd Uzir added.

"On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, the IPI decreased by 1.2%, affected by the manufacturing and mining indices,” he noted.

Mining sector output declined 5.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January 2022 due to a 13.9% decrease in the mining component's crude oil and condensate gauge.

The natural gas gauge, however, grew 1.6%, according to the DOSM.

"The mining index registered a marginal decrease of 0.02% [in January 2022] as compared to the previous month," the DOSM stated.

Meanwhile, compared to a year earlier, manufacturing sector output increased 6.8% in January 2022 after recording a growth of 8.4% in December 2021.

"The main sub-sectors contributing to the growth in [the] manufacturing sector in January 2022 were electrical and electronics products (14.4%), food, beverages and tobacco products (6.7%), and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (6.2%).

"Simultaneously, the growth [in the] manufacturing sector was driven by both export-oriented industries (6.7%) and domestic-oriented industries (7%).

"The increase (growth) in export-oriented industries was mainly supported by the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products as well as manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. The performance of the manufacturing sector was also in line with an encouraging growth in exports," the DOSM explained.

Meanwhile, the growth in domestic-oriented industries was attributed to the manufacture of food products and fabricated metal items.

M-o-m, the [IPI's] manufacturing sector decreased 1.7% [in January 2022], influenced by lower capacity utilisation, especially in the sub-sectors of electrical and electronics products as well as food, beverages and tobacco products, the DOSM pointed out.

On the other hand, electricity sector output, which rose 7.7% y-o-y in January 2022, increased 1.6% m-o-m.