Malaysia's manufacturing sales down 4.2 pct in December

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's manufacturing sales fell 4.2 percent year on year to 149.9 billion ringgit (31.45 billion U.S. dollars) in December 2023, marking the largest decline since May 2020, official data showed Wednesday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the decrease was primarily dragged by the continuous decline in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products sub-sector since June 2023, registering a negative 13.6 percent in December 2023.

Moreover, the electrical and electronics products sub-sector dropped by 4.6 percent, while the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector slipped by 2.6 percent.

As compared to the preceding month, the sales value shrank by 3.3 percent as against 155 billion ringgit recorded in November 2023.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the sales value of the manufacturing sector continued to decelerate for three consecutive quarters, declining by 2.7 percent year-on-year to reach 461.5 billion ringgit.

The decrease was attributed to the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastics products (-11.2 percent), and electrical and electronics products (-4.2 percent) sub-sectors.

As for 2023, the sales value of the manufacturing sector reached 1.8 trillion ringgit, a 0.2 percent increase as against 2022. (1 ringgit equals 0.21 U.S. dollar)