MALAYSIA’S Industrial Production Index (IPI) grew 1.7% year-on-year (yoy) in December 2020 but was not good enough to prevent an overall decline of 4.2% for the whole of 2020.
The drop, according to the Statistics Department, was influenced by all the three indices: mining index (-9.7%), electricity index (-3.7%) and manufacturing index (-2.7%).
Specifically for the month of December, the IPI growth in December was driven by the manufacturing index which rose 4.1% while both the mining and electricity index dropped 5.4% and 0.2% respectively.
“The manufacturing sector output based on yoy comparison rose by 4.1% in December 2020 after recording a growth of 2.0% in November 2020,” the Statistics Department pointed out.
“The major subsectors contributing to the growth in manufacturing sector in December 2020 were transport equipment & other manufactures (8.4%); petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products (7.7%); and electrical & electronics products (7.6%).”
The deterioration of the mining index for the December 2020 period was due to the decrease in crude oil & condensate index (-9.0%) and natural gas index (-2.5%).
On a quarterly basis, the IPI for the fourth quarter of 2020 fell 0.3% as compared to the same period of the previous year.
The decrease was largely due to the contraction in mining (-10.5%) and electricity (-0.6%) but the manufacturing sector posted an increase of 2.8%. – Feb 8, 2021
