KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Malaysia’s manufacturing sector sales value increased by 3.5 per cent in January 2025 (December 2024: 5.7 per cent), amounting to RM158.1 billion, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was primarily supported by the food, beverages, and tobacco sub-sector, which recorded a robust growth of 10.6 per cent in January 2025, from 14.6 per cent in December 2024.
“This was followed by the electrical and electronics (E&E) products and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal, and fabricated metal products sub-sectors at 7.3 per cent from 8.7 per cent in December 2024 and 2.1 per cent (December 2024: 3.2 per cent), respectively.
“The sales value decreased by 0.2 per cent to RM158.1 billion against RM158.4 billion recorded in December 2024,” he said in a statement today.
Uzir noted that the sales value of export-oriented industries, which represent 70.2 per cent of total sales, expanded by 5.1 per cent in January 2025 from 7.1 per cent in the preceding month.
“The expansion was predominantly attributable to the increase in the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats by 11.1 per cent (December 2024: 17 per cent).
“Furthermore, the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products also rose by 7.7 per cent (December 2024: 9.4 per cent), while the manufacture of rubber products grew by 8.9 per cent (December 2024: 10.7 per cent),” he said.
Similarly, the domestic-oriented industries only grew by 0.1 per cent in January 2025 after registering a 2.5 per cent increase in December 2024.
The performance was due to the year-on-year decline in the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers of 17.6 per cent.
However, the growth was offset by the manufacture of food processing products, which remained at a double-digit growth of 10.4 per cent from 11.2 per cent in December 2024, the manufacture of fabricated metal products industry except for machinery and equipment (3.1 per cent), and the manufacture of beverages (9.1 per cent).
“On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, both export and domestic-oriented industries dropped by 0.2 per cent,” Uzir said.
Commenting on the number of employees, he said there were 2.39 million persons engaged in this sector in January 2025, up 0.9 per cent from December’s 1.0 per cent.
The augmentation was mainly driven by the food, beverages, and tobacco, representing 2.0 per cent, followed by non-metallic mineral products, basic metal, and fabricated metal products (1.6 per cent); and E&E products (0.6 per cent) sub-sectors.
On a month-on-month basis, the number of employees in this sector decreased 0.2 per cent.
On the same note, the salaries and wages paid in the manufacturing sector also increased by 1.5 per cent from 1.7 per cent in December, amounting to RM8.5 billion in January 2025.
“On a m-o-m comparison, the salaries and wages paid dropped by 4.6 per cent. Subsequently, the sales value per employee went up by 2.6 per cent to RM66,011, while the average salaries and wages per employee was RM3,540, having risen by 0.6 per cent year-on-year,” he said.
— Bernama
