Malaysia: Industrial Production Growth

Malaysia’s industrial production growth decelerated to 0.31% y/y in October 2019, following a 1.74% y/y increase in the previous month. The indicator has experienced a downward trend since 2017 and the October data is the weakest figure since July 2014, when industrial production growth stood at 0.62% y/y.

The slowdown in October was mainly due to deceleration in the manufacturing sector (2.24% y/y), contraction in the mining (-5.8% y/y), which both combined account for over 90% of the country’s production. 

The breakdown analysis reveals that in October 2019, the growth in manufacturing of petroleum, rubber & plastic products remained sluggish at 1.04% y/y (from 2.14% y/y in September), while the electronic items accelerated to 2.4% y/y (from 0.79% y/y).

On the other hand, the crude mining shrunk by 5.15% y/y (from -4.72% y/y). For the first ten months of 2019, the industrial production averaged 2.49% y/y, lower than the 3.05% y/y rate in the same period last year. 

Detailed data and analysis on Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index can be found in the CEIC Malaysia Economy in a Snapshot - Q3 2019.