Malaysia's manufacturing sales value returned to a positive growth of 3.3 percent in May, after recording a decline of 2 percent in the preceding month, official data showed on Wednesday.

The Department of Statistics of Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the sector's sales value reached 146.8 billion ringgit (31.58 billion U.S. dollars) in May.

The expansion was bolstered by a strong 17.3-percent growth registered in transport equipment and other manufactures coupled with the continuously increasing trend in non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (8.7 percent); and electrical and electronics products (8.2 percent).

On month-on-month comparison, the sales value rebounded to 1.3 percent as against a negative growth of 7.2 percent in April.

The sales value of export-oriented industries, which represented 71.6 percent of total sales, rebounded marginally by 0.2 percent in May after registering a decrease in April.

Overall performance for January to May showed the sales value of the manufacturing sector amounted to 741.2 billion ringgit, increased by 5.1 percent from the same period of the preceding year. (1 ringgit equals 0.22 U.S. dollar)