KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the price changes at the producer level, eased to 0.3 per cent in August 2024, compared to 1.3 per cent in the previous month, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this was the lowest rate recorded since February 2024, mainly due to lower primary commodity prices.
He noted that most PPI sectors saw increases in August 2024, except for the mining sector.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors rose by 2.7 per cent from the preceding year (July 2024: 3.4 per cent), with the perennial crops index increasing by 6.3 per cent.
The manufacturing sector grew by one per cent (July 2024: 0.9 per cent) driven by the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (5.8 per cent) and food products (2.3 per cent) indices.
Meanwhile, the index of water supply and electricity and gas supply increased by eight per cent and one per cent, respectively.
"However, the mining sector decreased by 8.3 per cent, compared to an increase of 2.2 per cent in the previous month, largely due to declines in the extraction of natural gas (-10.1 per cent) and crude petroleum (-7.8 per cent)," Mohd Uzir said.
On a monthly basis, he said local PPI production declined by 0.9 per cent in August 2024 (July 2024: -0.2 per cent), driven by a 6.8 per cent drop in the mining sector (July 2024: 0.7 per cent), affected by both extraction of natural gas (-9.1 per cent) and crude petroleum (-6.1 per cent) indices.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors edged down 2.7 per cent (July 2024: 1.1 per cent), with the index for perennial crops down by 2.9 per cent.
The manufacturing sector decreased by 0.2 per cent (July 2024: -0.3 per cent), affected by the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-1.6 per cent) and the manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products (-0.4 per cent) indices.
The water supply sector fell by 0.8 per cent (July 2024: 0.8 per cent), while the electricity and gas supply index increased by 0.6 per cent (July 2024: -0.8 per cent).
Mohd Uzir said that in selected countries, the United States PPI went up by 1.7 per cent this month, slower than a 2.1 per cent increase in July 2024.
Japan's PPI continued to rise 2.5 per cent, compared to three per cent in July 2024, with beverages and foods, chemicals and electrical machinery contributing to the slowdown.
Factory prices for United Kingdom-made goods rose by 0.2 per cent, slowing from 0.8 per cent in the previous month.
"China's PPI contracted 1.8 per cent in August 2024, steeper than the 0.8 per cent decline in the previous month, due to weak domestic demand and the downward trend in some global commodity prices," he said.
Regarding Malaysia's key commodity prices, Mohd Uzir stated that the oil prices are anticipated to remain volatile in the near term, influenced by factors such as the expected US recession and geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
He added that the price of crude palm oil (CPO) for local markets decreased in August 2024, due to increased production of fresh fruit bunches and CPO.