Malaysia's IPI in January up 4.6pc

Malaysia's Industrial Production Index (IPI) in January 2013 was up by 4.6 per cent when compared with the same month of 2012.

The increase was due to an improvement in all indices, namely manufacturing, mining and electricity, which posted a 4.9 per cent, 2.4 per cent and 9.8 per cent growth respectively.

Meanwhile, the IPI for December 2012 has been revised a positive 3.5 per cent, year-on-year, the Statistics Department said in a statement today.

On a monthly basis, the IPI slipped by 0.8 per cent.

The department said manufacturing output in January 2013 recorded a growth of 4.9 per cent year-on-year, after a revised 4.3 per cent gain in December 2012.

The increase in manufacturing output in January was reflected by the improvement in electrical and electronics products (9.1 per cent), food, beverages and tobacco products (10.9 per cent) and transport equipment and other manufacturers (24.6 per cent).

The mining sector output was up 2.4 per cent in the period reviewed as compared with January 2012.

This was due to a hike in the natural gas index of 7.2 per cent, but the department said the crude oil index remained unchanged, as compared to January 2012.

Compared with December 2012, the seasonally adjusted output for the mining index was down by one per cent.

For electricity, the output advanced by 9.8 per cent in January 2013, year-on-year, the department said, adding, the seasonally adjusted output increased by 9.3 per cent as compared with the previous month.-- Bernama