Manufacturing boosts April industrial output 3.2% on-year

Tuesday, 19 June 2012 03:58

Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) rose 3.2% in April from a year ago, boosted by the manufacturing and electricity sectors.

The Statistics Department said on Monday the manufacturing and electricity indices rose 5.7% and 3.4% respectively. However, mining declined 3.6%.

On the manufacturing sector, it said the increases were due to petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (10.4%); transport equipment and other manufacturers (12.2%); and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.1%).

"The seasonally adjusted output (for manufacturing) for April 2012 decreased 2.2% as compared to March 2012," it said.

The department said the IPI in March 2012 was revised to a positive 1.5% on a year-on-year basis.

"On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, the IPI in April 2012 contracted by 1.7%, which was attributed by reduction in manufacturing index (2.2%) and electricity index (0.9%). Meanwhile, mining registered a marginal increase of 0.2%," it said.

Source: The Star