KUALA LUMPUR – The producer price index (PPI) for local production recorded an increase of 6.7% last month from 2.7% in February, the biggest rise since August 2017.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement today, said the growth is driven by an increase in the mining index, which rebounded to 32.0% from -11.0% in February.
“The agriculture, forestry and fishing index marked a new-high growth of 41.1% as commodities recorded higher prices.”
Subsequently, the manufacturing index registered an increase of 2.2%, resulting from the higher price of petroleum and agriculture commodities.
However, the electricity, and gas and water supply indexes recorded a decline of 1.4% and 0.1%, respectively.
On a monthly basis, Uzir said the local production PPI recorded an increase of 0.7% in March, down from the 1.5% logged in February.
“All four indexes continued their growth momentum: agriculture, forestry and fishing (2.3%), mining (1.0%), electricity and gas supply (0.8%), and manufacturing (0.6%), while the water supply index fell 0.2%.”
For the first quarter, he said, the local production PPI rose 3.0% to 108.5 from 105.3 in the same quarter last year.
“The growth is due to the higher index for agriculture, forestry and fishing (32.6%), manufacturing (1.6%), and water supply (0.4%),” he said, adding that the mining, and electricity and gas supply indexes recorded a decline of 7.3% and 1.7%, respectively.
For quarterly comparison, he said, the local production PPI increased 5.1% from 2.0% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
For stages of processing, the Statistics Department reported that the index for crude materials for further processing surged to 31.8% from 10.0% in February, while the index for intermediate materials, supplies and components increased 2.8%.
In contrast, the finished goods index recorded -0.2%. – Bernama, April 28, 2021
