Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Industrial sector for July 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 July, 2020 for this sector showed an increase by 9.1 % when compared with PPI of June 2020, primarily due to the price increase of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 9.1%, however “Stone, Sand and Clay” decreased by 2.7%. PPI of July 2020, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (July 2019), there was a decrease of 43.7%.
Manufacturing
An increase of 1.1% has been recorded in July 2020, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (June, 2020). The prices increase are seen in: “Refined Petroleum products” and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 3.3% each, followed by “Juices” by 1.2%, “Basic Chemicals" by 0.9%, and “Beverages” by 0.5%. However, the decreasing prices are noticed in “Basic Metals” by 6.9%, “Dairy products” by 2.3%, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 2.0%, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.3%. No changes noticed in “Paper and Paper products” and “Other chemical products and fibers”.
Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (July 2019), “Manufacturing” PPI of July 2020 showed a decrease of 24.5%. The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 29.8%, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 20.5%, “Basic Metals” by 12.8%, "Rubber and Plastics products” by 10.6%, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 2.5%, “Dairy products” by 0.8%, and "Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 0.2%. However, prices increased in "Juices" by 6.4%, followed by “Paper and Paper Products” by 5.7 %, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.5%, and “Beverages” by 0.4%.
Electricity and Water
The PPI of this group showed a decrease of 0.8% compared to June 2020, resulting from a decline in “Electricity” by 1.5%, and “Water” by 0.3%. When compared the PPI of July, 2020, to the PPI of July, 2019 [Y-o-Y], showed also decrease of 0.8%, affected by prices fall in “Electricity” by 1.1%, and “Water” by 0.5%.
Overall Index (PPI of Industrial sector)
The PPI for July,2020 is estimated at 39.0 points showing an increase of 6.0%, when compared to the previous month’s June 2020. On [Y-o-Y] basis, PPI of July, 2020 showed a decrease of 37.1% when compared to the PPI of July,2019.
