KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s manufacturing sales in January 2022 grew 13.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM139bil compared to the same month in 2021, according to the Department of Statistics.

       However, the sales value decreased by 3.4% against the previous month.

       Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth in sales value was driven by the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector, which went up 20.6% y-o-y, especially in the food production industries.

       “The expansion was also attributed by the petroleum, chemical, rubber, and plastic products sub-sectors, up 15.7% y-o-y, and supported by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum product industries as well as the electrical and electronics product sub-sector (up 10.6% y-o-y), mainly in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products,” he said in a statement yesterday.

       Sales value for export-oriented industries, which accounted for 71% of total sales value, recorded an increase of 14.4% while domestic-oriented industries posted an increment of 10.1% in January 2022 compared to the same month in 2021.

       Manufacturing cooking oil and packing

       The growth of sales value for export-oriented industries was in line with the double-digit growth registered in the external trade exports and the price factors that remained favourable, it said.

       On a month-on-month comparison, export-oriented industries recorded a decline of 4.9% while domestic-oriented industries increased 0.3%.

       The total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in January 2022 were 2.27 million persons, an increase of 2.2% compared to 2.23 million persons in January 2021.

       The increase was contributed by electrical and electronic products (4.8%), wood, furniture, paper products and printing (3.1%), transport equipment, and other manufacturing of products (1.8%).

       The department also revealed that salaries and wages paid in January amounted to RM7.87bil, an increase of 4.1%, or RM307.3mil.

       “Besides that, the sales value per employee increased 10.7% to RM61,116 compared with the same month in 2021 (RM55,213).

       “Meanwhile, the average salaries and wages per employee was RM3,459 in January 2022,” it said. — Bernama