PPI of Crude Petroleum and Natural gas production decreased by 32.6%, comparing with previous month.
Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Industrial sector for April 2020 with the base year 2013. Producer price index covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7%), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8%), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5%).
Mining
The PPI of April, 2020 for this sector showed a decrease by 32.3 % when compared with PPI of March 2019, primarily due to the price decline of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 32.6%. When compared with its counterpart in previous year (April 2019), there was a decrease on this sector by 51.5%.
Manufacturing
A decrease of 18.0% has been recorded in April 2020, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (March, 2020). The prices decrease are seen in: “Refined Petroleum products” by 25.3%, followed by “Basic Chemicals" by 8.0%, “Basic Metals” by 5.0%, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 2.9%, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.4%. However, the increasing prices are noticed in “Juices” by 2.6%, “Beverages” by 0.2%, “Dairy products”, and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 0.1.% each. No changes noticed in “Paper and Paper products” and “Other chemical products and fibers”.
Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (April 2019), “Manufacturing” PPI of April 2020 showed a decrease of 32.5%. The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 41.6%, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 24.0%, “Basic Metals” by 8.8%, "Rubber and Plastics products” by 3.4%, "Cement and Other non-metallic products” 2.1%, and “Other chemical products and fibers” by 1.5%. However, prices increased in and "Juices" by 5.3%, followed by “Paper and Paper Products” by 3.0 %, “Grain mill and Other products” are decreased by 0.8%, and “Dairy products” by 0.4%. No change noticed in “Beverages”.
Electricity and Water
The PPI of this group showed a decrease of 7.6% compared to March 2020, resulting from the decreasing in “Electricity” by 9.5%, and “Water” by 4.8%. When compared the PPI of April, 2020, to the PPI of April, 2019 [Y-o-Y], showed a decrease of 11.3%, affected by prices fall in “Water” by 15.9%, and “Electricity” by 7.9%.
Overall Index (PPI of Industrial sector)
The PPI for April,2020 is estimated at 35.9 points showing a decrease of 27.0%, when compared to the previous month’s March 2020. On [Y-o-Y] basis, PPI of April, 2020 showed a decrease of 45.2% when compared to the PPI of April,2019.
