Overview

The Manufacturing sector sales reached RM164.3 billion in March 2025; rose 3.7 per cent

The sales value of the Manufacturing sector rose 3.7 per cent (February 2025: 4.7%), amounted to RM164.3 billion in March 2025. The growth in sales value within the Manufacturing sector was mainly driven by the Food, beverages & tobacco sub-sector which recorded a strong growth of 11.8 per cent in March 2025 (February 2025: 14.5%). This was followed by the Electrical & electronics products and Non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products sub-sectors at 7.4 per cent (February 2025: 7.8%) and 4.0 per cent (February 2025: 4.4%), respectively. Comparison with the preceding month, the sales value also increased by 7.3 per cent to RM164.3 billion as against RM153.1 billion recorded in the preceding month.

The sales value of export-oriented industries which representing 70.9 per cent of total sales, expanded by 4.6 per cent in March 2025 (February 2025: 5.8%). The expansion was primarily due to the increase in the Manufacture of vegetable & animal oils & fats by 14.7 per cent (February 2025: 18.1%). Furthermore, Manufacture of computer, electronics & optical products also rose by 8.0 per cent (February 2025: 7.8%), while Manufacture of rubber products grew by 7.5 per cent (February 2025: 8.4%).

The domestic-oriented industries grew by 1.8 per cent in March 2025, after registered an increase of 2.3 per cent in February 2025. The performance was due to the year-on-year increase in the Manufacture of food processing products which continued to show an increase with 9.4 per cent in March 2025 (February 2025: 11.3%); followed by the Manufacture of fabricated metal products industry except machinery & equipment (3.2%); and the Manufacture of basic metals (5.7%). On a month-on-month basis, both export and domestic-oriented industries rebounded to the increase of 8.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

There are 2.39 million employees in this sector during March 2025, augmented by 1.1 per cent (February 2025: 1.2%). The augmentation was mainly driven by the Food, beverages & tobacco (2.1%); Non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products (1.6%); and Electrical & electronics products which remained to grow at 1.2 per cent. On month-on-month basis, the number of employees in this sector decreased 0.2 per cent.

The salaries & wages paid in the Manufacturing sector also posted an increase of 1.8 per cent (February 2025: 2.0%), amounted to RM8.4 billion in March 2025. Comparison by month-on-month, the salaries & wages paid dropped by 0.4 per cent. Subsequently, the sales value per employee went up to RM68,805 (2.6%), while the average salaries & wages per employee was RM3,508, rose by 0.7 per cent year-on-year.

For the performance of the Manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 2025, the sales value was registered at RM475.6 billion, increased by 4.0 per cent as compared to the same period of 2024 (Q4 2024: 4.4%). The number of employee uptick by 1.1 per cent to 2.39 million persons, while salaries & wages increased by 1.8 per cent to RM25.3 billion with the sales value per employee stood at RM199,108, grew 2.9 per cent.

The full publication of the Monthly Manufacturing Statistics, March 2025 can be downloaded through eStatistik portal. Data for March 2025 is provisional. The data will be updated based on the latest available figures and subsequently published in the April 2025 publication.

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA

8 May 2025

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Baharudin Mohamad

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