KUALA LUMPUR: The sales value of the manufacturing sector in Malaysia dropped by 1.4 percent year on year to 156.7 billion ringgit ($33.47 billion) in October, official data showed on Monday.

The decrease was predominantly influenced by the persistent decline in the petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products subsector by 9.5 percent, and the electrical and electronics products subsector which fell by 2.7 percent, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said in a statement.

As compared to the preceding month, the sales value inched down by 0.7 percent as against 157.8 billion ringgit recorded in September.

According to the DoSM, the sales value of export-oriented industries, which accounted for more than two-thirds of total sales, decreased by 5.2 percent in October.

The drop was mainly attributed to the double-digit decrease in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products by negative 18.4 percent.

For the first 10 months of 2023, the manufacturing sector achieved sales value worth 1.5 trillion ringgit, showing a slight growth of 0.9 percent as compared to the same period in the preceding year (1 ringgit equals $0.21).