PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the price changes of goods at the producer level, edged up by 1.9% in April 2024 from a 1.6% increase recorded in the previous month.
Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that similar to the previous month, all sectors registered an increase in April.
“The mining sector continued to surge by 10% (March: 8.3%), contributed by the increases in extraction of crude petroleum (12.3%) and extraction of natural gas (3.5%) indices. The agriculture, forestry & fishing sector also increased by 5.4% (March: 5.5%), with the index of growing of perennial crops and animal production going up by 9.2% and 2.9%, respectively,” he added.
At the same time, the manufacturing sector recorded a marginal increase of 0.8% (March: 0.6%) due to the manufacture of computer, electronic & optical products index (8.9%). For the utility sector, the electricity & gas supply index went up by 1%, while the water supply index recorded an increase of 7.2%.
He explained, “On a monthly basis, PPI local production went up by 0.5% as compared to 1.6% in March 2024. The mining sector rose by 2.1% (March: 2.3%) contributed by extraction of crude petroleum (2.7%) and extraction of natural gas (0.4%) indices.
The agriculture, forestry & fishing sector increased at a slower pace of 0.7% from 4.3% recorded in the previous month, supported by the growing of perennial crops (1.3%) index.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector went up marginally by 0.3% (March 2024: 1.3%) due to manufacture of computer, electronic & optical products (1.4%) and manufacture of food products (1.6%).
Electricity & gas supply and water supply indices rose by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Commenting on PPI local production by stage of processing, Mohd Uzir said, “The crude materials for further processing index increased by 7.4% in April 2024, similar to the previous month due to the non-food materials index (9%).
“The finished goods index went up by 2.4% (March: 1.9%), attributed to the increase in capital equipment (4.8%) index.
“However, the intermediate materials, supplies & components index decreased by negative 0.1% (March: -0.4%), affected by processed fuel & lubricants (-9.6%) index.”
On a monthly basis, all indices increased. The crude materials for further processing rose by 0.7%, while intermediate materials, supplies & components and finished goods indices increased by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
