The monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of industrial sector for October 2017 was estimated at 57.3 points, showing an increase of 4.6 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI.
The rise in the index was primarily attributed to rebounding in prices of crude petroleum, natural gas and other industrial products such as chemicals, petrochemicals, steel and others.
On year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the PPI of October 2017 has increased by 14.8 percent when compared to the corresponding month last year (October 2016), data released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) show.
The PPI covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent). The Mining sector PPI of October 2017 showed an increase of 3.9 percent when compared with PPI of September 2017, primarily due to the increase of prices of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” with 3.9 percent. PPI of October 2017, when compared with its counterpart in the previous year (October 2016), there has been a considerable increase of 11.8 percent.
The PPI of Manufacturing sector registered an increase of 5.6 percent compared to previous month’s index during this year. Increase in prices of several manufacturing goods (with varying degrees) were seen in October, which included “Basic Metals” by 7.1 percent, “Refined Petroleum products” by 6.3 percent, “Basic Chemicals” by 4.4 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 0.9 percent, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.4 percent.
However, the decreasing prices were noticed in “Other chemical products and fibers”, and “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 0.2 percent for each. No monthly change were noticed in other groups.
Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (October 2016), “Manufacturing” PPI of October, 2017 showed a rise of 21.1 percent. The major groups which explain this price increase are “Basic Metals” by 28.1 percent, “Refined Petroleum Products” by 25.5 percent, “Basic Chemicals” by 14.7 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 9.3 percent, “Juices” by 3.8 percent, and “Grain mill and Other Products” by 1.4 percent. However, prices fall also noticed in “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 3.7 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 3.2 percent, “Beverages” by 2.8 percent, “Paper and Paper Products” by 2.2 percent, and “Dairy products” by 1.2 percent.
The Electricity and Water group’s index for October 2017 showed an increase of 1.2 percent compared to September 2017, resulting from a an increase price of electricity by 7.9 percent, and decrease in water by 5.4 percent. When compared on y-o-y basis, the PPI of Electricity and Water group for October showed an increase of 10.2 percent compared to same months last year, as a result of surge in the prices of water by 14.1 percent and electricity by 7 percent.
