Johannesburg - South Africa's headline producer inflation accelerated to 7.0 percent year-on-year in January from 6.5 percent in December, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters had predicted PPI would quicken to 6.75 percent.
Prices at the factory gate rose by 1.0 percent on a month-on-month basis in January compared with 0.5 percent previously, against market forecasts of a 0.8 percent rise.
Stats S.A. releases five industry-specific producer price indices, with final manufactured goods representing the headline number.
January December
y/y m/m y/y m/m
Final manufactured goods 7.0 1.0 6.5 0.5
Intermediate manufactured goods 9.3 2.4 8.1 -0.4
Electricity and water 14.5 1.3 14.3 -1.7
Mining and quarrying 4.8 4.9 2.4 -0.8
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 5.6 0.0 4.1 1.5 - Reuters