PPI 1.3 pct lower in December

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the prices of goods at the factory gate, recorded a decrease to negative 1.3 per cent in December 2023 as compared to negative 1.5 per cent in November 2023, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the downtrend was attributed to the mining sector, which fell to negative 3.4 per cent (November 2023: -4.7 per cent) due to the decline of both extraction of natural gas (-7.8 per cent) and extraction of crude petroleum (-1.9 per cent) indices.

He said the manufacturing sector continued to shrink to negative 1.5 per cent as against a negative 1.4 per cent a month before owing to the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (12.3 per cent) and manufacture of food products (-4.2 per cent) indices.

The electricity and gas supply sector also went down to negative 0.6 per cent, similar to the previous month, he added.

“Conversely, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector increased by 1.3 per cent after a decrease of negative 0.4 per cent in November 2023 due to the incline in animal production (6.3 per cent) and fishing (3.8 per cent) indices.

“At the same time, the water supply index also went up 0.4 per cent in this month,” he said in a statement yesterday.

For a month-on-month comparison, Mohd Uzir said PPI local production decreased to negative 0.2 per cent in December 2023 compared to a negative 0.7 per cent in the previous month.

“With the exception of the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, which remained unchanged, all other sectors recorded a decline in this month,” he added.

As for the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2023, Mohd Uzir noted that PPI local production recorded a decrease to negative 1.0 per cent (3Q 2023: -1.4 per cent) due to mining (-2.5 per cent), manufacturing (-1.2 per cent) and electricity and gas supply (-0.5 per cent) sectors.

Meanwhile, the chief statistician concluded that in 2023, the PPI local production went down to negative 1.9 per cent after a growth of 7.8 per cent in 2022.

“This was the first decrease since 2020 due to the lower prices of Malaysia’s main commodities.

Commodity prices in 2023 were perceived as highly uncertain due to price volatility, especially in energy markets.

“Crude oil prices have also experienced volatility due to a series of oil output cuts by the Opec+ and supply concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.

“The intensifying geopolitical risks, including the potential for the war to escalate, could increase volatility in global energy supplies and prices,” he said. — Bernama