KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production increased 11.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) this August compared with -2.8% in the same month last year, mainly due to a surge in the mining index (51.8 per cent).
In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in PPI was also supported by the agriculture, forestry and fishing index, which grew 27.6% y-o-y, followed by manufacturing (7.1%) and electricity and gas supply (0.4%).
Water supply, however, eased 0.4%, he said, adding that some primary commodities were seen to have registered unusual increases this year due to the base effect last year.
On a month-on-month comparison, he said the PPI, which measures the costs of goods at the factory gate, rose 0.6% in August 2021, the same growth recorded in July 2021.
“The agriculture, forestry and fishing index moved up 2.8% in August 2021 as opposed to 2.2% recorded in the previous month.
“The increase of 0.6 percentage points was due to higher prices of chicken (5.2%) and fresh fruit bunches (3.6%),” said the chief statistician.
Uzir also said the mining index declined 0.8% due to a fall in crude oil prices (-2.9%) despite a continuous rise in natural gas commodity prices (10.1%).
However, the manufacturing index was 0.4% higher following an increase in the prices of refined petroleum commodity (2%), commodity-based vegetable and animal oils and fats (0.5%), and products related to electronic components and boards (0.4%), he said.
The index of electricity and gas supply also increased 0.1% while water supply decreased by 0.2%, he added. – Bernama, September 30, 2021
