January Producer Price Index down 1.2%

PETALING JAYA: The Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production decreased by 1.2% on a year-on-year basis in January 2018, up 0.9 percentage points as compared to 0.3% in December 2017.
Statistics Department said in a statement, among the sectors that showed decreases during this period were agriculture, forestry and fishing (13.8%), manufacturing (0.7%) and electricity and gas supply (0.4%).
Meanwhile, it said the mining and water supply index recorded increases by 8.9% and 1.0%, respectively.
On a monthly basis, it said the PPI for local production increased by 0.5% in January 2018 compared to December 2017.
“This was due to increases in mining and agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. Meanwhile, the index for manufacturing decreased by 0.4% and electricity and gas supply by 0.3%. Index for water supply remained unchanged,” it said.
The department said the PPI for local production by stage of processing (SOP) increased by 0.5% in January 2018, due to the increase in the index for crude materials for further processing (3.5%).
However, it said the intermediate materials, supplies and components decreased by 0.4%, and finished goods by 0.1%.
The PPI for local production by SOP for January 2018 decreased by 1.2% compared with January 2017, driven by the index for intermediate materials, supplies and components, crude materials for further processing and finished goods, it added.
Commencing reference month January 2018, PPI uses updated basket of goods based on the Economic Census of 2016 and from relevant government agencies.
The new basket contains 1063 products. Updating of basket of goods will ensure that the products selected for PPI computation can measure the average price change as imposed by producers of goods in an industry.