KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The rate of Malaysia's producer price index (PPI), which measures the prices of goods at the factory gate, declined further to negative 3 percent in April as against negative 2.9 percent in March, official data showed Monday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the downturn trend is mainly due to the decline in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining sectors.
According to DOSM, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors continued to show a negative trend for 10 consecutive months, recording a negative 26 percent in April.
The mining sector also declined by 4.7 percent in April due to a decrease in the extraction of crude petroleum index.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector registered a marginal increase of 0.1 percent in April due to a significant increase in the manufacture of computers, electronic & optical products and electrical equipment indices.
In the meantime, the water supply and electricity and gas supply sectors went up 3.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
On a monthly basis, the PPI for local production posted a marginal increase of 0.2 percent in April compared to 0.3 percent in the prior month. ■
