Business

Wednesday August 19, 2009

June manufacturing sales 25.5% lower

By LAALITHA HUNT


However, it edged up 6.7% from May’s RM36.8bil

PETALING JAYA: Sales value in the manufacturing sector in June fell 25.5%, or RM13.5bil, to RM39.3bil compared with RM52.7bil reported in the same month last year.

However, the sales value grew 6.7% (RM2.46bil) from May’s RM36.8bil (revised figure).

According to data released by the Statistics Department yesterday, the increase in the sales value in June compared with May was generated by the growth in the sales value of 80 (69%) of the 116 industries covered in the survey.

The major industries whose sales value increased were manufacture of refined petroleum products (16.5%), electronic valves and printed circuit boards (16.7%) as well as manufacture of computer and peripherals (6.9%).

Meanwhile, salaries and wages paid in June decreased 6.9%, or RM141.8mil, compared with the same month last year.

However, following the uptrend in the manufacturing sales value month-on-month, salaries and wages grew 2%, or RM38.2mil, to register RM1.91bil.

According to the statistics, total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in June were 933,357, an increase of 1,657, or 0.2%, compared with the preceding month.

The number of workers employed in June, however, fell 79,298, or 7.8%, to 933,357 compared with 1,012,655 in June last year.

In terms of productivity, average sales value per employee in June increased 6.5% to RM42,074 compared with RM39,510 in May. Productivity in June, however, went down by 19.2% year-on-year.

According to TA Research economist Patricia Oh, the manufacturing sector has been showing signs of bottoming out since May this year.

However, she added that signs of recovery in this sector remained uncertain and the uptick could possibly be due to replenishing of inventories as exports continued to trend downward.

Meanwhile, RAM Holdings Bhd chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng was positive that the manufacturing sector would be able to sustain its recent performance in sales as well as employment due to firmer rising external demand.

“The manufacturing sector would recover modestly this year as more countries are pulling out of the recession and would contribute to rising demand. This would also allay earlier fears that recovery (in the manufacturing sector) was mainly due to re-stocking,” Yeah added.


For the full report from the Statistics Department click here

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