KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): The Department of Statistics Malaysia reported today that the country's manufacturing sales plunged 33% to RM75.8 billion in April 2020, compared with RM113.1 billion reported for the same month last year, as a result of the closure of business operations under the government-imposed Movement Control Order (MCO) due to Covid-19.

On a month-on-month basis, the sales value went down by RM34.3 billion or 31.2%, while in seasonally adjusted terms, the sales value registered a decrease of 29.5%.

"The year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in sales value in April 2020 was due to the decrease in transport equipment & other manufactured products (-69.5%), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products (-67.5%) and electrical & electronics products (-39.6%)," Malaysia's chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today.

He said non-essential services industry registered a significant decline with capacity utilisation of factories falling below 50% due to closures during MCO. Under normal conditions, the sales value of the manufacturing sector was expected to grow by 6.9%.

Meanwhile, total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector decreased by 3.2% to 2.17 million persons in April 2020, compared with 2.24 million persons last year.

In the same vein, Uzir also reported that the salaries and wages paid to the employees declined by RM448.7 million or 6.2% to RM6.83 billion in April 2020 compared with the same month in the previous year. Average salary and wage per employee was recorded at RM3,146 for April 2020.

At the same time, the sales value per employee declined by 30.8% y-o-y at RM34,918.