CAPE TOWN: The Statistics South Africa data showed on Thursday that the producer inflation for final manufactured goods decelerated slightly to 3% year on year in April from 3.1% in March. From March to April, the PPI for final manufactured goods increased by 0.9%.
The main contributors to the annual rate of 3% were food products, beverages and tobacco products, contributing 1.8 percentage points; and metals, machinery, equipment and computing equipment, contributing 1 percentage point.
The latest data could suggest that the effects of a weak rand have not yet been fully felt in domestic prices. The main contributor to the monthly increase of 0.9% was coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products. The producer inflation for intermediate manufactured goods was -0.2% in April compared with 0.9% in March. The main reasons behind the -0.2% was chemicals, rubber and plastic products which fell -2.2% year-on-year.
The producer inflation for electricity and water was 10.4% in April compared with 8.6% in March. Both electricity and water costs are set to increase further from July. The producer inflation for mining was -4.7% in April compared with -4.4% in March. The producer inflation for agriculture, forestry and fishing was 4.5% in April compared with -1% in March 2015.
