Activities in the manufacturing sector are expected to remain moderate in the first half of this year (1H2023) as manufacturers continue to brace for challenging business conditions, particularly in the pressure on inputs costs, increased costs of energy, and ringgit fluctuations, said the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) president Soh Thian Lai.

Soh said that apart from challenging business conditions domestically, the manufacturing sector is also growing slower in tandem with the slowing global economy.

“For the whole of 2022, overall sales have remained generally steady, although local sales had grown at a faster pace...