Johannesburg – Producer inflation as measured by the producer price index (PPI) remained unchanged for the third consecutive time on a year on year basis in December. PPI came in at 5.2% year on year in December‚ Statistics SA data on Thursday showed.
A consensus among ten economists was that PPI would increase to 5.5% year on year in December. The forecasts ranged from 5.3% to 5.6%.
PPI was down 0.1% on the month.
Exported inflation fell 3.3% on the year‚ and was down 1.8% on the month.
Inflation for imported commodities rose 4.0% on a year-on-year basis‚ and was up 0.4% on the month.
In 2012‚ the average PPI for domestic output was 6.2% compared with an annual increase of 8.4% in the average PPI (domestic output) in 2011.
The most notable increases in annual rates between November and December‚ based on changes in contribution to the annual rate for all groups‚ were as follows‚ mining and quarrying‚ where the annual rate increased from 3.9% in November to 6.7% in December; other manufactures‚ where the annual rate increased from 2.8% to 4.2%; non-electrical machinery and equipment‚ where the annual rate increased from 2.2% to 3.1%.
These increases were counteracted by decreases in the annual rate of change for food at manufacturing‚ where the annual rate decreased from 11.1% in November to 9.2% in December; agriculture‚ where the annual rate decreased from 5.9% to 3.2%; basic metals‚ where the annual rate decreased from -2.0% to -7.3%.
The monthly decrease of 0.1% in the PPI for domestic output was mainly due to monthly contributions from decreases in the price indices of mining and quarrying (-0.2 of a percentage point) and electricity (-0.1 of a percentage point).
These decreases were partially counteracted by increases in the price indices of products of petroleum and coal (+0.1 of a percentage point) and chemicals and chemical products (+0.1 of a percentage point). - I-Net Bridge