KUALA LUMPUR (July 27): The rise in Malaysia’s Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the prices of goods at factory gate, eased to 10.9% in June 2022 from 11.2% in May 2022, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In a statement on Wednesday (July 27), DOSM chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said all sectors recorded a double-digit increase except for utility sectors.
He said the manufacturing sector, which is the highest weight in the PPI (81.6%), posted a 10% increase in June 2022.
“Although the sub-sectors from this sector recorded a two-digit increase, the magnitude of increase has slowed down. Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products recorded 22.3% in June 2022, down from 22.9% in May 2022.
“Similarly, manufacture of food products posted a slower increase to 18.6% in June 2022 from 19.3% recorded in the previous month.
“Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products also eased from 11.4% in May 2022 to 10.5% in June 2022.
“In addition, 16 other sub-sectors posted a lower increase in the range of between 0.4% and 9.5%. On the other hand, two sub-sectors recorded a decline and one sub-sector remained unchanged,” he said.
Mohd Uzir added that even though the price of crude palm oil experienced a slight decrease to RM6,106 per tonne in June 2022 against RM6,873 per tonne a month before, the index for agriculture, forestry and fishing sector remained a slower double-digit increase of 18.1% as compared to 29.8% in the same period a year ago.
He said apart from being driven by perennial crops index, fishing and logging indices also contributed to the increase in this sector during June 2022.
“In addition, indices of growing of non-perennial crops and animal production increased 7.5% and 6.9% respectively.
“The increase in both indices were contributed by the [increase] in the indices of tomato (34.9%), round cabbage (22.8%), aubergines (19.2%), hen’s eggs (9.7%) and chicken (8%),” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the mining sector recorded an increase of 17.5% in June 2022 as opposed to 20.6% in May 2022.
He said the increase was mainly driven by growth in natural gas (43.4%) and crude oil (12.7%) indices.
In terms of utility indices, an increase of 2.1% was recorded in water supply index, while electricity and gas supply index decreased 0.2%, he said.
Meanwhile, commenting on the PPI local production by stage of processing, Mohd Uzir said the index of crude materials for further processing increased at a slower rate of 16.9% in June 2022 compared to 17.3% in May 2022.
He said the increase was contributed by indices of non-food materials (19.2%), and foodstuffs and feedstuffs (4.8%).
Similarly, index of intermediate materials, supplies and components increased 13% in June 2022, slightly lower than 13.5% recorded in May 2022.
The increase was driven by an increase in indices of processed fuel and lubricants (18.0%), materials and components for manufacturing (14.1%), and supplies (6.3%).
On the other hand, finished goods index registered a higher increase in June 2022 with 1.6% (May 2022: 1%), attributed by the increase in finished consumer foods (6.7%) index.