Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Industrial sector for May, 2019 with the base year 2013.
Producer price index covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent).
In the Mining sector, the PPI of May, 2019 for this sector showed a decrease by 3.1 percent when compared with PPI of April 2018, primarily due to the decrease of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” prices by 3.3 percent. PPI of May 2019, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (May 2018), there has been a decrease of 7.4 percent.
In the Manufacturing sector, a decrease of 2.3 percent has been recorded in May 2019, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (April,2019). The prices decrease are seen in: “Refined Petroleum products” by 2.9 percent, “Basic Metals” by 1.9 percent, “Basic Chemicals” by 1.1 percent, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 0.9 percent, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.3 percent.
However, the increasing prices are noticed in: “Rubber and Plastics products” by 2.9 percent, “Juices” by 2.6 percent, “Beverages” by 1.7 percent. And no change noticed in Dairy products”, “Paper and Paper products and “Other chemical products and fibers”.
Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (May 2018), “Manufacturing” PPI of April, 2019 showed a decrease of 3.7 percent. The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Basic Metals” by 9.8 percent, “Basic chemicals” by 4.8 percent, and “Cement and Other non-metallic products” 3.9 percent,”Refined Petroleum products” by 2.5 percent, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.2 percent. However, prices increased in “Other chemical products and fibers” by 10.1 percent, followed by “Rubber and Plastics products” by 5.0 percent, “Juices” by 3.3 percent, “Dairy products” by 2.8 percent, and “Beverages” by 2.7 percent.
“Paper and Paper Products” by 2.6 percent, In the Electricity and Water sector, the PPI of this group showed a decrease of 3.7 percent compared to April 2019, resulting from the decreasing “Electricity” by 4.5 percent, and “Water” by 2.7 percent. When compared the PPI of May,2019, to the PPI of May,2018 Y-o-Y, showed an increase of 6.6 percent, affected by prices rise in “Water” by 11.5 percent, and “Electricity” by 3.0 percent.
Source from: The Peninsula