KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — The Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production increased by a marginal 0.1 per cent to 101.3 in October 2020 from 101.2 in September 2020, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said.

In a statement, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the slight increase was attributed to the incline in the sectoral indexes of agriculture, forestry & fishing (1.1 per cent) and manufacturing (0.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, the indexes of mining and electricity & gas supply slipped to -3.1 per cent and -0.4 per cent, respectively. The water supply index remained unchanged.

Year-on-year (y-o-y), the PPI for local production decreased 3.6 per cent in October 2020 to 101.3 from 105.1 in the same month of the preceding year, driven by the indexes of mining (-43.5 per cent), electricity & gas supply (-1.2 per cent), and manufacturing (-1.1 per cent).

In contrast, the indexes of agriculture, forestry & fishing and water supply increased 21.0 per cent and 1.0 per cent y-o-y, respectively.

The PPI for local production for the period of January to October 2020 fell 2.7 per cent compared to -2.6 per cent in the same period last year.

"Meanwhile, for the y-o-y performance of the PPI local production by stage of processing, all stages recorded a decline.

"Raw materials for further processing fell 13.2 per cent followed by Intermediate materials, supplies & components (1.6 per cent) and finished goods (0.8 per cent),” Mohd Uzir added. — Bernama