Malaysian industries suffered estimated losses of between RM20 million and RM30 million during Monday's power blackout which hit five states, local media reported today.

Losses would have doubled if the outage had not occurred on a public holiday, Lew Chin Hoi, chairman of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers' (FMM) energy management committee said.

The worst-hit industries were cement and steel mills as they operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, he said.

"Companies involved in the cement industry in Perak and Kedah incurred losses of between RM1 million and RM3 million each. As for steel mills, the loss was about RM6 million," he was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Investigative team

"Other industries such as electronics, gloves and chemicals were also affected but not as seriously as cement and steel mills. The electronics companies lost around RM60,000 each," he said.

An investigative team headed by national power firm Tenaga president and chief executive officer Pian Sukro has been set up to determine the cause of the blackout.

The outage in five states including Penang, which is regarded as Southeast Asia's Silicon Valley, lasted for more than four hours in some parts.

The worst power cut in seven years, it plunged hundreds of thousands of homes and offices into darkness, disrupting traffic on roads and at airports. - AFP