KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) increased by 1.4% in June this year,, as higher mining output offset the declines in electricity and manufacturing and exceeding the forecasts by Bloomberg and Reuters.

       The improvement in the June IPI bucked a Bloomberg survey of a 1.5% contraction while Reuters’ survey of 10 economists expected the IPI to fall 0.3%. In May, the IPI posted a revised 26.1% rise.

       Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said on Monday the growth of IPI in June was underpinned by the expansion of 10.3% in the mining index.

       “Meanwhile, the manufacturing and electricity indices fell 0.2% and 4.8% respectively,” he said in a statement.

       When compared with the IPI in May, the June IPI rose by 1.6%.

       The June manufacturing sector output fell by 0.2% after recording a growth of 29.8% in May 2021.

       The main subsectors which contributed to the manufacturing sector in June were petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products (19.0%); electrical & electronics products (8.4%) and textiles, wearing apparel, leather products & footwear (-14.5%).

       The export-oriented industries drove the growth of the manufacturing sector by 8.7% while domestic-oriented industries decreased by 20.8%.

       Output from the mining sector grew by 10.3% in June on-year due to the increases in the natural gas index (13.4%) and crude oil & condensate index (6.3%).

       The electricity sector output contracted 4.8% on-year.

       For the second quarter, the IPI soared 22.6% from a year ago, underpinned by manufacturing, mining and electricity indices which increased by 26.3%, 15.1% and 8.6% respectively.

       For the first half of 2021, the IPI expanded by 12.4% from a year ago due to manufacturing index (15.7%), mining index (4.5%) and electricity index (4.0%).

       June industrial production index expanded by 1.4% and exceeded forecasts.