KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 7): The industrial production index (IPI) increased by 4.6% year-on-year in December 2024, driven by expansion across all sectors, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was supported by the manufacturing sector, which rose by 4.6%, outperforming the 3.6% recorded in November 2024.

"At the same time, the mining sector recovered with a positive growth of 0.4% (November 2024: -0.8%), while the electricity sector grew by 3.5% (November: 3.9%)," he said in a statement.

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he noted that the IPI declined by 0.4%, versus a 0.6% growth in the previous month.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Mohd Uzir said the IPI grew at a slower rate of 3.4%, compared with 3.9% recorded in the third quarter, mainly driven by the manufacturing and the electricity sectors.

For the full year, the IPI expanded by 3.8% in 2024, a significant improvement from 0.7% in 2023, supported by positive growth in all sectors.

Meanwhile, the unit price index of cement improved by 0.2% to 2.9% m-o-m across most regions in Malaysia in January 2025, with the highest increase recorded in Sandakan (2.9%), followed by Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan (1.2%), Mohd Uzir said.

Conversely, the unit price index of steel declined by 0.6% to 4.3% across most regions in January 2025, with Pahang seeing the steepest drop (-4.3%), followed by Sandakan (-2.8%) and Perak (-2.2%), he said.

"Additionally, the steel and metal section's unit price index fell between 0.2% and 2.7% in January 2025. The average price per tonne of steel, including mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars, declined by 0.7% to RM3,563.76, down from RM3,588.31 in December 2024," he added.

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