KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Malaysia's Producer Price Index (PPI) local production, which measures the costs of goods at the factory gate, remained high in May with a growth of 11.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) compared with 11.0 per cent y-o-y in April 2022, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed the growth to the mining index, which increased 20.6 per cent y-o-y against 18.4 per cent y-o-y in April 2022.

He said the agriculture, forestry and fishing index grew by 16.7 per cent y-o-y, mainly led by an increase in the indices of growing of perennial crops (21.2 per cent), fishing (11.3 per cent) and growing of non-perennial crops (7.8 per cent).

"The manufacturing index registered a double-digit increase of 10.1 per cent for the first time since August 2011, underpinned by an increase in indices of subsectors, namely manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (24.5 per cent), manufacture of refined petroleum products (22.9 per cent) and manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilisers and nitrogen compounds, plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms (13.3 per cent).

"In addition, the indices of water supply increased 1.2 per cent, while that of electricity and gas supply decreased 0.6 per cent,” he said in a statement today.

On a month-on-month basis, Mohd Uzir said the PPI local production increased 1.2 per cent versus 0.2 per cent recorded in the previous month.

He said the growth was supported by the mining index, which rose 4.0 per cent increase, driven by the rise in the indices of crude oil (4.3 per cent) and natural gas (3.1 per cent).

Meanwhile, the manufacturing index increased by 1.0 per cent due to the growth in indices of subsectors, namely manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (2.6 per cent), manufacture of refined petroleum products (1.3 per cent) and manufacture of consumer electronics (1.1 per cent), he said.

"The double-digit increase in PPI in Malaysia was in line with the rise in inflation at the producer level for selected countries which were affected by supply shortages, mainly of raw materials due to the lockdown ease, opening of the economy as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine,” he said.

Mohd Uzir noted that inflation at the producer level for the United Kingdom rose 15.7 per cent in May 2022 from the 14.7 per cent recorded in April 2022, driven by higher prices for fuel and raw materials which jumped more than 22.0 per cent annually.

Similarly, he said, rising prices of gasoline and energy products contributed to a 10.8 per cent rise in inflation at the producer level for the United States in May 2022.

A similar situation was seen in South-east Asian countries such as Thailand, where its producer-level inflation recorded a 13.3 per cent surge in May 2022 (April 2022: 12.8 per cent), which was contributed by increases in the manufacturing and mining sectors, he added. — Bernama