PETALING JAYA: The country’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) grew 5.1% year-on-year in March, steered by a 6.9% growth in the manufacturing sector, according to the Statistics Department.

       “The expansion of IPI was contributed by all three sectors, namely manufacturing index, electricity index (0.8% increase) and mining index (0.3% increase).

       “On a month-on-month basis, the IPI increased by 8.6% supported by expansion in all component of indices,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

       The main subsectors which contributed to the growth in the manufacturing sector in March were electrical and electronics products (18.6%), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.6%) and food, beverages and tobacco products (4.1%).

       Simultaneously, the growth of manufacturing sector was driven by both of export-oriented industry (7.8%) and domestic-oriented industry (5.1%).

       The growth for the export-oriented industries was mainly supported by the manufacture of computer, electronics and optical products, and manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products.

       Manufacturing chts

       Meanwhile, the increase in domestic-oriented industry was attributed by the manufacture of food products and manufacture of basic metals.

       The performance of the manufacturing sector was also in line with the encouraging growth of exports.

       In March, the manufacturing sector grew 8.5% month-on-month driven by higher capacity utilisation especially in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products and transport equipment and other manufactures subsectors.

       The mining sector’s higher output in March, was driven by the 5.7% growth in natural gas index.

       However, crude oil and condensate index deteriorated 6.8%.

       On a month-on-month basis, the mining index saw an increase of 7.2%.

       Also on a month-on-month basis, the electricity index increased by 13%.

       The IPI for the first quarter 2022 grew 4.5% year-on-year, due to the growth in manufacturing index (6.3%) and electricity index (3.7%). Meanwhile, the mining index contracted 1.8%.