FX.co ★ Malaysia Manufacturing Activity Contracts

Malaysia’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.3 in February 2026, down from a 20‑month high of 50.2 in January, signalling a renewed deterioration in manufacturing conditions after three consecutive months of improvement. The decline reflected fresh slowdowns in both new orders and output, which in turn drove a steep reduction in employment—the joint-largest in the survey’s history, matching the rate of job shedding recorded in August 2020. Purchasing activity also weakened, while firms continued to experience lengthening supplier delivery times, the most pronounced delays in 15 months. Inventories of both inputs and finished goods were run down further, extending the current sequence of contraction to eight and three months, respectively. After four straight months of decline, backlogs of work rose again. On the price front, input costs increased modestly following January’s first decrease in 68 months, whereas output prices fell for the first time in four months. Despite the softer conditions, manufacturers remained optimistic about production over the coming year, expecting that an eventual improvement in demand will translate into renewed output growth.