KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s manufacturing sector sales reached RM921.5 billion in the January-June 2024 period, increasing by 3.7% versus the 3.5% in the same period a year ago.
Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the sector’s headcount was up by 1% to a total 2.37 million while salaries and wages grew by 1.3% to RM49.3 billion.
“Sales value per employee was RM388,904, which is a 2.7% growth,” he said.
The second quarter of 2024 (2Q 2024) registered sales of RM464.2 billion, reflecting a growth of 5.7% (1Q 2024: 1.8%) which was attributed to the electrical and electronics (E&E) products (7.3%) and the food, beverages and tobacco (8.2%) sub-sectors.
“Furthermore, the number of employees and salaries and wages paid during the quarter went up by 1% (1Q 2024: 0.5%) and 1.4% (1Q 2024: 1.2%) respectively,” he added.
Mohd Uzir said sales for the sector remained on steady growth with a 5.9% rise to reach RM156.1 billion in June 2024, primarily driven by the E&E products sub-sector, which grew 7.1% after registering 12.2% growth in May 2024.
“The growth was also supported by the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector with an increase of 8.6%, and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products which rose by 11.1%.
“On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the sales value grew by 0.8% from RM154.9 billion in May 2024,” he said.
Additionally, the sales value for export-oriented industries, which accounted for 73.1% continued to expand at a faster pace of 6% in June 2024 (May 2024: 4.6%) while domestic-oriented industries grew a modest 5.5% (May 2024: 7.9%) due to 5.2% decline in motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers sales.
“There were 2.37 million employees in the manufacturing sector in June 2024, a 1% increase compared to 0.9% in May 2024,” Mohd Uzir said, adding that salaries and wages rose by 1.8% to a total of RM8.20 billion in June 2024.
