PETALING JAYA: Higher prices of primary commodities pushed the Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production up by 11.6% in March 2022.

       The Statistics Department said that this was the first time the country saw a two-digit increase in PPI this year, after rising by 9.7% in February.

       The PPI measures the costs of goods at the factory gate.

       Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in the PPI was driven by the mining index that rose 28.2% as opposed to 23.3% in February 2022.

       Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in the PPI was driven by the mining index that rose 28.2% as opposed to 23.3% in February 2022.

       “Index of agriculture, forestry and fishing registered a higher increase of 24.9% mainly led by an increase in indices of growing of perennial crops (33.4%); fishing (6.5%) and animal production (5.5%).

       “Similarly, the manufacturing index increased 8.9% as compared to 7.9% posted in February 2022, supported by an increase in indices of sub-sectors namely manufacture of refined petroleum products (22.7%), manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (20.8%) and manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilisers and nitrogen compounds, plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms (13.3%),” stated Mohd Uzir in a statement yesterday.In the first quarter of 2022, the PPI local production posted an increase of 10.2% on a year-on-year basis and 3.5% quarter-on-quarter.

       Mohd Uzir said that the world is currently not only facing global supply chain disruption, but also the beginning of global food crisis effects from a pandemic as well as the recent war.

       The increase in raw materials costs such as crude oil and fertilisers will contribute to the increase in food prices globally including Malaysia, according to him.