PPI increases by 5.4% in April

From March to April the PPI for final manufactured goods increased by 0.4%.

Since January‚ Stats SA has been publishing separate PPI figures to cover agriculture‚ mining‚ electricity and water and manufacturing.

The PPI for final manufactured goods is now considered the "headline" PPI indicator. PPI was expected to have increased by about 5.7% year-on-year (y/y)‚ based on a survey by I-Net Bridge.

Forecasts among the eleven economists surveyed ranged from 5.5% y/y to 6.1% y/y.

The main contributors to the annual rate of 5.4% were food products‚ beverages and tobacco products (6.1% y/y and contributing 2.0 percentage points) and coke‚ petroleum‚ chemical‚ rubber and plastic products (5.8% y/y and contributing 1.0 percentage points).

The main contributors to the monthly increase of 0.4% were food products‚ beverages and tobacco products (0.7% month-on-month and contributing 0.2 of a percentage point) and metals‚ machinery‚ equipment and computing equipment (1.0% month-on-month and contributing 0.2 of a percentage point).

The annual percentage change in the PPI for intermediate manufactured goods was 7.2% in April, compared with 7.7% a month earlier.

Prices rising

From March to April the PPI for intermediate manufactured goods increased by 0.3%. The main contributors to the annual rate of 7.2% were chemicals‚ rubber and plastic products (6.7% y/y and contributing 2.7 percentage points) and basic and fabricated metals (5.2% y/y and contributing 1.5 percentage points).

The main contributors to the monthly increase of 0.3% were chemicals‚ rubber and plastic products (1.0% month-on-month and contributing 0.4 of a percentage point) and textile and leather goods (3.3% month-on-month and contributing 0.3 of a percentage point).

The annual percentage change in the PPI for electricity and water was 12.9% in April compared with 11.4% in March. From March to April the PPI for electricity and water increased by 7.0%.

The contributors to the annual rate of 12.9% were electricity (13.2% year-on-year and contributing 10.9 percentage points) and water (11.5% y/y and contributing 2.1 percentage points).

The contributors to the monthly increase of 7.0% were electricity (7.4% month-on-month and contributing 6.1 percentage points) and water (5.1% month-on-month and contributing 0.9 of a percentage point).

Non-ferrous metals down

The annual percentage change in the PPI for mining was 4.5% in April compared with 8.6% in March.

From March to April the PPI for mining decreased by 3.5%. The main contributor to the annual rate of 4.5% was non-ferrous metal ores. The main contributors to the monthly rate of -3.5% were gold and other metal ores and non-ferrous metal ores.

The annual percentage change in the PPI for agriculture‚ forestry and fishing was 1.7% in April compared with 0.4% in March. From March to April the PPI for agriculture‚ forestry and fishing increased by 0.1%.

The main contributor was agriculture‚ while the main contributor to the monthly rate of 0.1% was forestry.