MALAYSIA’S manufacturing sales shrank 3% to RM110.2 bil in March from RM113.5 bil in the same period last year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said sales in transport equipment and other manufactured products fell -7.4%; food, beverages and tobacco products (-5.9%); and electrical and electronics products (-5.7%).
On a month-on-month basis, the sales value went down 0.9% or RM1.1 bil, while in seasonally adjusted terms, the sales value registered a decrease of 9.5%, he said in a DOSM monthly manufacturing statistics statement released today.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (Q1 2020), Mohd Uzir said the sales value of the manufacturing sector grew 2.2% to RM339.4 bil as compared with the same period of 2019.
Meanwhile, he said the total number of employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in March 2020 was 2.26 million, an increase of 1.2% or 27,541 persons, from 2.23 million persons in March 2019.
He said salaries and wages paid in March 2020 amounted to RM7.46 bil, a rise of 1.8% or RM130.5 mil from the same month of the preceding year.
“Simultaneously, the sales value per employee declined 4.1% to RM48,815 as compared with the same month in 2019. Meanwhile, the average salaries and wages per employee was RM3,303 in March 2020,” he said.
As for 1Q 2020, the number of employees engaged grew 1.2% to 2.26 million while salaries and wages paid posted an increase of 3.4% to RM22.7 billion. The sales value per employee during the reference period rose 1% to RM150,368, he added. — May 12, 2020, Bernama
