KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) surged 50.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2021, propelled by the strong performance of the manufacturing sector, said the Statistics Department (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was driven by the increment in all indices; manufacturing index (68.0%), electricity index (22.9%) and mining index (14.3%).
“The sharp increment of growth in April 2021 was also a reflection of recovery due to the base effect from the implementation of movement control order (MCO 1.0) last year,” he said in a statement today.
He said the manufacturing sector’s output rose by 68.0% y-o-y in April 2021 after recording a growth of 12.7% in March 2021.
The major sub-sectors contributing to the growth were transport equipment and others (275.2%), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (141.0%) and electrical and electronics (E&E) products (70.1%), he said.
Uzir said the export-oriented industries drove the growth of the manufacturing sector by 52.8% while domestic-oriented industries increased by 110.9%.
“The growth of the manufacturing sector was also driven by the high capacity utilisation rate especially in E&E products and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products sub-sectors.
“In addition, the performance of the manufacturing sector was also in line with the notable growth in exports and IPI for some of Malaysia’s main trading partners,” he said.
He said the mining sector output grew positively in April 2021 for the first time since February 2020 with 14.3% growth y-o-y due to the increase in the natural gas index (23.9%) and crude oil and condensate index (2.7%).
The electricity sector output expanded 22.9% y-o-y in April 2021, he added.
Meanwhile, Moody’s Analytics said it expects Malaysia’s IPI growth to ease in the coming months due to tighter restrictions and production capacity limitations, which will inevitably dent output.
“While both trade and industrial production have outperformed expectations thus far, we need to keep an eye on heightened uncertainty and downside risks, which may threaten to derail Malaysia’s recovery pace,” it added
Malaysia imposed a two-week full lockdown through June 14 with only essential services allowed to operate.
“Given the MCO and subsequent lockdown imposed, we expect Malaysia’s industrial production growth to ease in the coming months from tighter restriction measures and production capacity limitation, which will inevitably dent output.
“A key concern is how much industrial production will be adversely impacted by the capacity constraints introduced (60% production capacity limit),” it added. – Bernama, June 11, 2021
