KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s producer price index (PPI) declined to -1.8 per cent in August 2023, an improvement from July’s -2.3 per cent (June: -4.8 per cent), said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
The decline was led by the mining sector, which slipped to -3.8 per cent (July 2023: -10.8 per cent), with the extraction of crude petroleum index posting a -6.5 per cent in August 2023.
“At the same time, the manufacturing sector decreased by -2.3 per cent, affected by the drop in manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (-13.4 per cent) and manufacture of food products (-7.6 per cent) indices,” chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement Tuesday.
He said on a monthly basis, the PPI local production went up by 0.3 per cent in August from 0.2 per cent in July.
The mining sector increased by 3.9 per cent owing to the extraction of crude petroleum (5.0 per cent) and extraction of natural gas (0.7 per cent) indices.
The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector edged up by 1.9 per cent with the index of growing perennial crops posting an increase of 5.0 per cent.
The water supply sector also recorded an increase of 0.2 per cent in this month.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector decreased by negative 0.2 per cent, attributed to the manufacture of refined petroleum products (-1.2 per cent) and the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (-1.2 per cent) indices.
The electricity and gas supply sector also declined by negative 0.1 per cent, said Mohd Uzir.
— NNN-BERNAMA