KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — The Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production fell 2.9 per cent in October 2019 to 105.1 versus 108.2 in the same month of the preceding year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said out of 1,063 items covered in PPI, 37.0 per cent showed an increase in October 2019 compared to October 2018.

"On the contrary, 40.6 per cent showed a decline while 22.4 per cent were unchanged,” he said.

He said in October 2019, the mining index declined 18.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), followed by water supply and manufacturing indices which decreased 1.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

In contrast, the agriculture, forestry and fishing, as well as electricity and gas supply indices rose 1.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent y-o-y respectively.

On a month-on-month basis, the PPI slid 0.2 per cent in October due to the decline in the mining index ( down 2.5 per cent ), followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing index (down 0.2 per cent), as well as electricity and gas supply index (down 0.1 per cent).

Conversely, Mohd Uzir added, the manufacturing index ticked up 0.1 per cent while water supply index was unchanged. — Bernama