Malaysia's IPI rises 6% in October, beating forecasts

KUALA LUMPUR: The Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose 6.0% in October 2025, beating expectations and building on the 5.7% expansion recorded in the previous month, according to the Statistics Department (DOSM).

Economists in a Reuters poll had forecast factory output to grow 5.1% in October.

In a statement, DOSM said the growth was led by the manufacturing sector, which expanded 6.5% compared with 5.0% in September 2025.

The mining sector also posted a 5.8% increase, although this was slower than the 10.2% growth seen in the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the electricity sector grew 1.2%, easing from 2.8% in September.

DOSM said the manufacturing growth in October 2025 was fuelled by export-oriented industries, which rose 7.2% versus 4.8% in September.

The manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products jumped 14.2%, while the vegetable and animal oils and fats sub-sector grew 12.9%.

This aligned with a 9.2% increase in manufactured exports for the month. Month-on-month (m-o-m), export-oriented industries rose 0.9% compared with 0.8% in September.

“Additionally, the domestic-oriented industries grew modestly by 4.9% as opposed to the increase of 5.3% registered in September 2025,” DOSM said.

It added that the sustained growth was supported by steady momentum in the manufacture of food processing products and fabricated metal products excluding machinery and equipment, which rose 8.7% and 7.1%, respectively.

In comparison with the preceding month, the domestic oriented industries decreased by 1.2% as against a positive 1.5% registered in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the mining sector’s output rose 5.8% in October 2025, supported by positive growth in both components. The crude oil and condensate index increased 8.8%, while the natural gas index was up 3.9%.

The mining index rebounded 10.1% m-o-m, reversing the 2.9% decline in September 2025. Electricity generation rose 1.2% year-on-year in October, while the Electricity index climbed 3.8% m-o-m, compared with a 4.4% contraction in September.

“Looking at the performance of several countries, the IPI was increased in Singapore (29.1%) and Vietnam (10.9%).

“In the meantime, China (4.9%), Japan (1.5%) and Taiwan (14.5%) registered a slower positive growth in October 2025.

“Conversely, only Thailand (-0.1%) and South Korea (-8.1%) experienced a decline in growth during this month,” DOSM said.

For the first ten months of 2025, the IPI grew 3.4%, slightly slower than the 3.7% expansion recorded in the same period last year.

The growth was driven by a 4.3% increase in the manufacturing index, while the mining and electricity indices rose 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively.