KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 11): Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) increased by 4.1% in August 2024, propelled by the moderate growth in the manufacturing sector, said the Department of Statistics (DOSM).

“The industrial production index (IPI) moderated to 4.1% in August 2024, as compared to an increase of 5.3% in the preceding month (July),” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

Mohd Uzir said the increase was primarily supported by the expansion of the output in the manufacturing sector at 6.5%, compared to 7.7% in July.

“This is followed by the positive growth of 4.1% (July 2024: 7.0%) in electricity output.

“Inversely, the output of the mining sector continued to decline year-on-year (y-o-y) for two consecutive months by recording a 6.4% decline in August 2024, compared to a 5.0% decline in July,” he said in a statement on Friday.

For a month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, DOSM said the IPI rebounded to 1.7% in August 2024 after declining by 1.5% in the previous month.

It added that the increase in manufacturing output in August 2024 was supported by the production in export-oriented industries, which softened to 6.3% growth as against 7.8% recorded in July 2024.

“The growth was mainly supported by the resilient growth observed in the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils as well as fats, which recorded an increase of 22.6% (July 2024: 21.9%), and the manufacturing of rubber products at 11.1% (July 2024: 10.5%).

“In addition, the manufacturing of computers, electronics and optical products also contributed to the increase by recording 8.7% growth (July 2024: 5.0%),” it said.

DOSM added that on a m-o-m comparison, the export-oriented industries improved by 3.0% in August 2024 versus a 3.3% decline in July.

It also said that the domestic-oriented industries continued to rise by registering 7.1%, slightly slower than the 7.5% increase recorded in the preceding month.

“This robust performance was largely influenced by a favourable growth in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment as well as the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers which increased by 10.3% (July 2024: 9.1%) and 7.7% (July 2024: 3.9%), respectively,” it said.

DOSM also noted that the IPI for several other countries, including Singapore, the US, and Taiwan, experienced higher output growth in August 2024, while China, South Korea, and Vietnam continued to grow but slower than the preceding month.

“Conversely, Japan and Thailand declined during the month. Cumulatively, throughout the first eight months this year (January–August 2024), the IPI picked up by 4.1% as compared to the same period in 2023, with all sectors posting an expansion, namely the mining index (1.8%), manufacturing index (4.4%) and electricity index (6.7%),” it added.

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