KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) surged 26% in May 2021 from a year earlier, driven by increases among all indices.
In a statement today, the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM) chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the surge was due to the growth of the mining, manufacturing, and electricity segments.
According to him, the manufacturing index rose 29.8% year-on-year, after recording 68% growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis in April 2021.
“The major sub-sectors contributing to the growth in manufacturing sector in May 2021 were petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products (34.8%), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products (49.4%), and transport equipment & other manufactures (68.9%).
“The export-oriented industries [drove] the growth of the manufacturing sector by 25.3% while domestic-oriented industries increased by 41.1%,” said Mohd Uzir.
The mining index, meanwhile, grew 20.7% from a year earlier, attributed by the increase in natural gas index (30.9%) as well as crude oil and condensate index (8.6%).
Mohd Uzir said the electricity sector output expanded 7.9% compared with the previous year.
