In its latest monthly report of the PPI local production, March 2024, chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said all sectors registered an increase in March 2024, contributing to the increase of the overall index.
The mining sector inclined 8.3% (February 2024: 5.3%), due to the index of extraction of crude petroleum (11%).
At the same time, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors increased by 5.5% (February 2024: 6%), with the index of growing of perennial crops and animal production going up by 9% and 3.8% respectively.
The manufacturing sector increased slightly by 0.6% from a negative 0.7% in the previous month due to the manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products (6.8%) and the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (1.4%).
“For the utility sector, the electricity and gas supply, and water supply indices both went up by 0.1% and 6% respectively,” he said in a statement.
On a monthly basis, PPI local production increased by 1.6% versus 0.7% in February 2024 contributed by all sectors.
The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors went up 4.3% (February 2024: 2.6%) due to the growing of perennial crops (7.4%) and animal production (1%) indices.
The mining sector rose by 2.3% (February 2024: 5.7%) attributed to the extraction of crude petroleum (2.3%).
Uzir also said PPI local production recorded an increase of 0.4% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 after a decrease of 1% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.
The agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors went up by 4.9%, followed by the mining and water supply sectors, which increased by 4% and 3.4% respectively.
However, manufacturing and electricity and gas supply both posted a decline of 0.3% and negative 0.2% respectively.
“Meanwhile, quarter-on-quarter showed the PPI inched up 0.6% against negative 0.3% in Q4 of 2023,” said Uzir.
A comparison of selected countries showed that the PPI of the US increased by 2.1% in March as against 1.6% in February 2024.
Besides, the UK’s annual inflation rate rose by 0.6%, up from 0.4% in February 2024 due to refined petroleum products and other outputs.
Japan’s PPI edged up 0.8% from a 0.7% rise in the prior month.
“China’s producer price continued to shrink 2.8% compared to a 2.7% drop in the previous month.
“This marked the 18th consecutive month of contraction in factory gate prices since last November, highlighting persistently weak demand as the economy needed fresh stimulus, linked to further drops in mining and quarrying and raw materials,” he said.
Uzir further said that Malaysian property prices are anticipated to grow significantly in the first half of 2024 (H1 2024) due to the challenges of rising cost of building materials, based on the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda)’s Market Outlook for 2024.
Rehda said that as at December 2023, the average price of sand and concrete in Malaysia had increased by more than 10% year-on-year.
This translated into construction costs that are expected to increase on average by 15% during H1 2024.