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       KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s producer price index (PPI) for local production, which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, rose 9.7% year-on-year in February 2022, “led by higher prices of the primary commodity,” says the Statistics Department.

       Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the better performance was driven by the mining index, which rose 23.3% compared to 34.3% recorded in January 2022, Bernama reported

       February’s performance was also due to a higher increase in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing index at 17.7%, compared to 12.5% in January 2022, according to the Statistics Department.

       The increase was mainly led by the indices of perennial crops at 23.3%, fishing at 9.4%, and animal production at 4.8%.

       “The manufacturing index also increased 7.9% compared to 7% recorded in January 2022, supported by an increase in the indices of subsectors, namely the manufacture of refined petroleum products at 20.3%, manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (18.6%) and manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilisers and nitrogen compounds, plastics, and synthetic rubber in primary forms (13.1%),” Mohd Uzir said in a statement.