KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): Malaysia’s manufacturing sales grew 15.3% to RM140.7 billion in October 2021 from the same month in 2020, driven by the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products sub-sector, which rose 27%, especially in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products industries.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said for the January to October 2021 period, the sales value of the manufacturing sector increased by 15.1% to RM1.27 trillion compared with the same period last year.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the expansion was also attributed by the electrical and electronics products sub-sector (16.9%), mainly in the manufacture of computer, optical and electronics products, and the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector (11.8%), supported by the manufacture of food products industries.

“Sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for 72.4% of total sales value, recorded an increase of 17.8%, while domestic-oriented industries posted an increment of 9.3% in October 2021 compared with the same month in 2020.

“The growth in sales value of export-oriented industries was in line with the double-digit growth registered in external trade exports and price factors that remained favourable,” he said in a statement on Friday (Dec 10).

On a month-on-month comparison, export and domestic-oriented industries recorded positive growth of 1.7% and 10.6% respectively.

Mohd Uzir added that total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in October 2021 was 2.24 million persons, up 2.4% from 2.188 million persons in October 2020, contributed by electrical and electronic products (4.9%), petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (1.6%), and wood, furniture, paper products and printing (2.7%).

The department also stated that salaries and wages paid amounted to RM7.52 billion, an increase of 4.4% or RM317.3 million in October 2021 against the same month in the preceding year.

“Besides that, sales value per employee rose 12.6% to RM62,781 compared with the same month in 2020 (RM55,747),” it said.

Meanwhile, the average salary and wage per employee was RM3,357 in October 2021.

The number of employees and salaries and wages recorded growth of 2.4% (2.24 million persons) and 2.6% (RM74.2 billion) respectively. Sales value per employee for the first 10 months of 2021 also grew 12.4% to RM566,011.

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