KUALA LUMPUR: Manufacturing and services sectors remained as the key drivers of growth in the country’s e-commerce income which jumped 17.1% on-year to RM279bil in the third quarter this year, the Statistics Department said on Wednesday.
In terms of quarter-on-quarter growth, e-commerce income maintained a positive trend with 4.3% growth, according to the Malaysia Digital Economy 2021.
From January to September, e-commerce income rose by 23.1% on-year to RM801.2bil. At the state level, the e-commerce was driven by the industrial states, namely Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Penang.
“In view of industry, manufacturing and services sectors remained as the key drivers of growth. Indeed, the improved performance was attributed to the adoption of new normal during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which it boosted digital usage in Malaysia,” it said.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the report also presents statistics on e-commerce and ICT’s contribution to the economy, access and usage of ICT, and the performance of the ICT services sector.
In another findings, he said since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia began in late January 2020, the government enacted a Movement Control Order (MCO) to slow the transmission of the virus.
During the MCO in 2020, only 38.1 per cent of establishments were operational, compared to 92.4% in RMCO (Recovery Movement Control Order).
“In terms of overall income, 79.6% of establishments reported a decrease during MCO, compared with 46.9% in RMCO. For e-commerce income, 19.1 per cent of establishments experienced an increase during MCO, and 26.1% in RMCO," he said.
Meanwhile, the department’s Information and Communication Technology Satellite Account (ICTSA) 2020 saw ICT recording RM320bil in 2020, up 10.4% from 2019 (7.3%).
It contributed 22.6% to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which comprises of the gross value added of the ICT industry (GVAICT: 14.2%) and e-commerce of other industries (8.4%).
Mohd Uzir also said e-commerce gross value added increased by 26.5% to RM163.3bil, up from RM129.2bil the previous year (2019: +10%).
“For the first time since the ICTSA compilation, e-commerce recorded a double-digit contribution of 11.5% to the GDP in 2020,” he said.
Meanwhile, based on the e-commerce income by market segment in 2019, the income of local market generated from sales conducted in Malaysia, dominated the market with a contribution of 87.6%, as compared to the international market’s 12.4%.
The value of the income generated was RM591.8bil and RM83.5bil, respectively.
Accordingly, e-commerce income by type of customer via Business to Business (B2B) registered the highest income of RM449.6bil with a 66.6% contribution, followed by Business to Consumer (B2C) at RM194bil (28.7%).
In the meantime, business to government (B2G) recorded RM31.8bi (4.7%).
ICT services, which comprise of the activity of publishing; motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing; programming and broadcasting; telecommunications services; computer programming, consultancy & related activities and information services recorded gross output RM163.8bil in 2019, an increase of 5.7% when compared to 2018.
“The value of intermediate input and value added also increased, 5% and 6.4%, respectively, to record RM78.2bil and RM85.6bi for the year 2019.”
He added that in 2019, 86.2% of establishments used computers, while 85.2% used internet. Putrajaya had the highest percentage of computer and internet use, with both recorded at 99.9%.
In 2020, the percentage of individuals using computers was 80%, and the internet was 89.6%. Putrajaya also registered the highest percentage of individual computer and internet usage, with 99.9% and 99.7%, respectively.
Most of those who have implemented technologies in their businesses use mobile internet & technology (63.8%) as well as social media (60.0%), websites (48.5%), and cloud computing (46.8%).
Main finding of Malaysia Digital Economy infographic