Malaysia IPI up 4.6% in March

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) expanded 4.6% year-on-year in March 2017, underpinned by positive growth in the manufacturing index (5.9%) and mining index (2%).
MIDF Research expects the encouraging trend of IPI growth to continue for the upcoming months, with full-year performance seen to be better than 2016.
It noted that stronger global demand, coupled with modest recovery in commodities prices provide a good platform for Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) and IPI to expand at 4.9% and 5.3% this year.
According to the Department of Statistics, the manufacturing sector output accelerated to 5.9% in March 2017 after a 6.6% increase in February 2017. The major sub-sectors which recorded an expansion in March 2017 were electrical and electronics products (8.5%); petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3.6%); and wood products, furniture, paper products, printing (10.3%).
The mining sector output growth was driven by a sustained increase of 7.9% in natural gas index, but crude oil index contracted at a slower pace of 2.6%. The electricity sector output decreased marginally by 0.2% in March 2017 after registering a growth of 1.5% the previous month.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's March manufacturing sales recorded a strong growth of 13.6% (RM7.9 billion), rising to RM65.9 billion as compared to RM58 billion achieved a year ago.
The growth was supported by the increase in electrical and electronics products (11.7%); petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (17.9%); and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal (10.1%). These three sub-sectors contributed 80% to the sales value of the manufacturing sector.