KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): Malaysia’s manufacturing sales grew 15.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM126.9 billion in March, the highest in 44 months.

In a statement, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, manufacturing sales increased by 7.2%.

Mohd Uzir noted that the y-o-y increase was driven by transport equipment and other manufactures products (34.2%), electrical and electronics products (17%), and food, beverage and tobacco products (14.9%).

Meanwhile, the total number of employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in March stood at 2.23 million people, down 1.1% from 2.26 million people a year ago.

Salaries and wages paid in the sector in March stood at RM7.51 billion, up 0.8% or RM58.3 million from March 2020. Sales value per employee rose by 16.5% to a record RM56,831 compared to March last year.

Average salaries and wages per employee in the sector stood at RM3,364 in March.

In the first quarter of 2021 (1Q21), manufacturing sales increased 8.5% y-o-y to RM368.2 billion from 1Q20.

The number of employees employed in the sector declined by 1.1% to 2.23 million, while salaries and wages decreased by 0.6% to RM22.6 billion. The sales value per employee during the quarter increased 9.7% to RM164,865.