KUALA LUMPUR (March 27): Malaysia’s producer price index (PPI) for local production increased by 0.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in February 2025, easing from the 0.8% rise recorded in January, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

In a statement on Thursday, the DOSM said the moderated increase was driven by continued expansion in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, despite a decline in the mining sector.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin noted that growth in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector was led by the growing of perennial crops, contributing to a 15.2% y-o-y increase, though slightly lower than the 16.5% recorded in January 2025.

“The growing of perennial crops sub-sector led the growth, rising 26.1%. However, the mining sector continued to contract, declining 9.7%, compared with a 1.3% drop in January 2024, driven by lower output in crude petroleum (-9.8%) and natural gas (-9.4%).

“The manufacturing sector recorded a marginal decline of 0.3%, compared with a 0.6% contraction in the previous month, with the largest drop seen in coke and refined petroleum products (-12.7%) and computer, electronic and optical products (-3.2%),” he said. 

He added that the electricity and gas supply sector recorded a slight decline of 0.2%, while the water supply sector maintained its positive trend with a 2.9% increase.

Mohd Uzir further said that on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, PPI local production recorded a slight increase of 0.1% in February 2025, slowing from 0.3% in January 2025.

“The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector grew by 1.4%, compared to a 3.9% decline in the previous month, supported by growth in fishing (5.9%) and growing of perennial crops (1.6%).

“The manufacturing sector rose by 0.3%, maintaining the same pace as in the previous month, driven mainly by coke and refined petroleum products (0.9%) and food products (0.7%).

He added that the mining sector declined by 3.2%, compared with 5.3% in January 2025, driven by lower output of natural gas (-3.5%) and crude petroleum (-3.2%), while in the utilities sector, the electricity and gas supply sector rose by 0.3%, and the water supply sector fell by 1.8%.

Elaborating on PPI local production by stage of processing, Mohd Uzir said the crude materials for further processing and intermediate materials, supplies and components indices remained unchanged y-o-y, while the finished goods index rose 0.7%, supported by a 1.7% increase in the capital equipment index.

“On a m-o-m basis, the crude materials for further processing index and finished goods index increased by 0.3%, while the intermediate materials, supplies and components index fell by 0.1%,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the DOSM said it would chair the 15th Asean Community Statistical System Committee under Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship this year, aiming to strengthen statistical cooperation for sustainable regional development.

“The government has declared Oct 20 as National Statistics Day (MyStats Day), with the theme of ‘Statistics is the Essence of Life’, while the Fourth World Statistics Day, observed on the same date in 2025, will carry the theme of ‘Driving Change with Quality Statistics and Data for Everyone',” the DOSM added.

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