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.