(Kuala Lumpur, 29th) Malaysia’s Department of Statistics reported that the Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 1.8% year-on-year in November, with the decline widening sharply from 0.1% in October.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector swung from a 2.7% y-o-y increase in October to a 9.7% contraction in November, mainly dragged down by a 16.2% drop in the perennial crops cultivation index. At the same time, the mining sector’s decline deepened to 7.2% (from -1.0% in October), driven by negative movements in the natural gas extraction index (-11.4%) and the crude oil extraction index (-5.5%).
He added that manufacturing recorded a mild 0.6% decline, unchanged from the previous month, largely due to a 6.6% fall in the coke and refined petroleum products manufacturing index. In contrast, the electricity and gas supply index rose 4.1%, while the water supply index increased 10.1%.
On a month-on-month basis, November’s PPI slipped 0.3%. Agriculture, forestry and fishing fell 4.6%, mining declined 0.8%, while utilities saw the water supply index down 0.8% and the electricity and gas supply index down 0.2%. Manufacturing, however, edged up 0.3%.
Mohd Uzir also noted that all categories of processed manufacturing posted declines in November: the crude materials for further processing index fell 6.2%, the intermediate goods, supplies and parts index dropped 1.1%, and the finished goods index eased 0.2%.
In regional comparison, Japan’s PPI rose 2.7%, while China’s PPI fell 2.2%, marking its 38th consecutive month of decline, indicating intense price competition amid weak demand. Thailand’s PPI dropped 1.6%, extending its decline to a ninth straight month, broadly similar to Malaysia’s trend.
