KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): The manufacturing sector continued its double-digit growth to record RM159.2 billion in sales in November 2022, an increase of 11.8% year-on-year (y-o-y), the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the continuous growth was driven mainly by the electrical and electronics (E&E) product sub-sector (19%), particularly in the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products.
The growth was also attributed to petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (15%), underpinned by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum product industries.
“In the meantime, sales value of transport equipment and other manufactures picked up strongly by 10.2%, boosted by the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 11).
He said export-oriented industries’ sales value, which contributed 72.9% of total sales, remained on a steady pace, with a 13.6% growth in November 2022, compared with 16.1% in October 2022, in line with the acceleration in external trade export growth and price increases.
On the other hand, he said sales value of domestic-oriented industries improved to 7.1%, compared with a 4.7% growth registered in the previous month.
He said sales value of export-oriented industries declined by 1.9% versus October 2022, while domestic-oriented industries posted an increase of 6.2%.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector accounted for 2.33 million persons in November 2022, which went up by 3.3% versus 2.25 million persons a year ago.
“The increment was contributed by E&E products (5.4%), food, beverage and tobacco products (4.3%), and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (2.4%),” he said.
On salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector, Mohd Uzir said it grew by 4.7%, amounting to RM7.89 billion, and sales value per employee rose by 8.2% to record RM68,380, compared to the same month in 2021, while average salaries and wages per employee stood at RM3,389.
He said from January to November 2022, sales value of the manufacturing sector soared 16.6% to RM1.64 trillion, as compared to the same period in 2021.
“Meanwhile, the number of employees increased by 3.3% to record a total of 2.33 million persons, with salaries and wages increased by 5.2% to RM86 billion.
“During the period, sales value per employee amounted to RM706,339, with a growth of 12.8% y-o-y,” Mohd Uzir added.