The rate of Malaysia’s Producer Price Index which measures the prices of goods at factory gate declined further to negative 3.0 per cent in April 2023 as against negative 2.9 per cent in March 2023.
The continuous downturn trend is mainly due to the decline in Agriculture, forestry & fishing and Mining sectors which continued to record negative changes for four consecutive months in 2023. The Agriculture, forestry & fishing sector continued to show a negative trend, recording double digit negative 26.0 per cent (March 2023: -28.7%).
The Mining sector also declined by 4.7 per cent in April 2023 compared to negative 11.5 per cent in the previous month. Meanwhile, the Manufacturing sector registered a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent (March 2023: 1.4%). In the meantime, for the utility sector, Water supply and Electricity & gas supply went up 3.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
On a monthly basis, PPI local production posted a marginal increase of 0.2 per cent in April 2023 as compared to 0.3 per cent in the prior month. The Agriculture, forestry & fishing sector inched up 0.8 per cent, attributed to the increase in the Growing of perennial crops index (1.1%).
The Mining sector posted an increase of 0.5 per cent (March 2023: -0.6%), in tandem with the increase of Extraction of crude petroleum index (1.5%). Manufacturing sector also moved in the same direction to record an increase of 0.1 per cent (March 2023: -0.1%).
On the other hand, the Electricity & gas sector declined by negative 0.6 per cent as against 0.5 per cent in the previous month, while Water supply sector remained unchanged.
In terms of PPI Local Production by stage of processing, index of Crude materials for further processing slipped further to negative 17.6 per cent in April 2023 (March 2023: -21.0%).
Intermediate materials, supplies & components went down negative 0.1 per cent in this month (March 2023: 1.5%). However, Finished goods rose by 3.5 per cent (March 2023: 3.9%).
Month on month, Crude materials for further processing and Intermediate materials, supplies & components indices increased by 0.7 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively. Conversely, Finished goods inched down negative 0.1 per cent.
