Malaysia’s producer price index (PPI) for local production eased further to 6.8% in August compared to 7.6% in the previous month, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
The department said the lower reading was attributed to the manufacturing index with a 9.4% expansion (July 2022: 9.9%), followed by the mining index which increased by 5.8%, slower than the 9% posted in July 2022.
“Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry and fishing index recorded a decrease of 10.6% in August 2022 (July 2022: -10.3%),” it said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 29).
DOSM said the water supply index recorded an increase of 3% in August 2022 while the electricity and gas supply index posted an increase of 0.9%.
For monthly comparison, it said the PPI's local production posted a decline for three consecutive months to -0.2% in August compared to -2.3% in July, driven by the mining index that recorded a decline of -3.7% (July 2022: -3.6%).
“In addition, the manufacturing index also posted a decrease of -0.1% in August 2022. It recorded the first decline since September 2020 (-0.2%) after posting an increase for 22 consecutive months.
“On the other hand, the agriculture, forestry and fishing index increased 2.5% in August (July 2022: -22.3%). For utility indices, the water supply and electricity and gas supply indices recorded an increase of 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively,” it said.
In terms of PPI local production by stage of processing, the department said crude materials for further processing index declined for the first time since January 2021, at -0.5% in August 2022.
In addition, it said the intermediate materials, supplies and components index increased 11.3%, followed by finished goods with an increase of 2.9%.
“For a monthly comparison, the index of crude materials for further processing declined by 1%, followed by intermediate materials, supplies and components index (-0.1%). However, the finished goods index increased 0.3%,” it said.
Source: Bernama
Comments