Malaysia's industrial output increases 3.1pc y/y in 2018

Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) increased 3.1 per cent year-on-year (y/y) in 2018, supported by the expansion of manufacturing and electricity sector, official statistics showed on Monday.

Malaysian Statistics Department said in a statement that the increase was contributed by the growth in manufacturing sector which grew 4.8 per cent, and electricity sector that increased by 3.7 per cent.

The mining sector, however, declined by 1.9 per cent for the year, reports Xinhua.

As for December last year, the IPI expanded 3.4 per cent year-on-year, driven by the increase in all indices, manufacturing up 4.4 per cent, electricity and mining up 2.7 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively.

The major sub-sectors that contributed to the growth in manufacturing sector were electrical and electronic equipment products that surged 7.2 per cent, transport equipment and other manufactures products which rose 7 per cent, and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products that grew 3.6 per cent.

The increase of mining sector was contributed by the growth in crude oil index that expanded 2.5 per cent. However, the natural gas index decreased marginally by 0.2 per cent.

In a separate statement, the statistics department also said that the manufacturing sector sales value jumped 7.7 per cent year-on-year to 824.8 billion ringgit (about 202.53 billion US dollars) in 2018.