PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s manufacturing sales rose 4.5% in December 2020 to RM124.6 billion compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures by the Department of Statistics.
On a month-on-month basis, sales value rose 3.9%.
“The year-on-year increase in December 2020 was driven by transport equipment & other manufactured products (20.5%), food, beverages & tobacco products (7.9%) and electrical & electronics products (4.2%),” said the chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement.
He observed the total employees engaged by the sector fell 2% to 2.2 million persons in December last year from 2.24 million persons in December 2019.
According to the department, the month also saw a 0.8% or RM59.7 million decrease in salaries & wages paid to RM7.77 billion compared to December 2019.
Simultaneously, it reported the sales value per employee in December rose by 6.7% to record RM56,644 as compared with the same month in 2019 with an average salaries & wages per employee of RM3,533.
In Q4’20, the manufacturing sector’s sales value grew 3% to RM366.4 billion compared to the same quarter of the previous year, driven by transport equipment & other manufactured products (15%), food, beverages & tobacco products (9%) and electrical & electronics products (4.3%).
The quarter also saw the number of employees and salaries & wages drop 2% and 1.2% respectively.
Overall, the manufacturing sector’s sales value for 2020 declined 2.1% to RM1.34 trillion as compared to 2019, while the number of employees engaged during the period declined by 2% to 2.2 million persons and salaries & wages paid fell by 1.1% to RM87.2 billion.
The statistics department revealed sales value per employee during the reference period contracted by 0.2% to record RM612,324.
