Producer price index manufacturing (ppi-m) 3rd Quarter 2009

The Producer Price Index (PPI-M) measures changes in the effective prices received by producers of the Manufacturing sector (excluding establishments formerly operating with Export Enterprise Certificate) for that part of their output, which is sold on the domestic market. It reflects the price trends of a constant basket of goods, representative of the output of these manufacturing industries.

This issue of the "Economic and Social Indicators" presents a series of PPI-M from 2003 to September 2009, broken down by 16 Divisions (2-digits level of the National Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities, NSIC) with weights based on the results of the 2002 Census of Economic Activities, and using year 2003 as base period. Indices for the Divisions 15 and 16, “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco”, have been further subdivided by product group and are given separately in Tables 5 to 8. Tables 9(a) and 10(a) present the monthly indices as well as the quarterly and yearly averages for the manufacturing sector and the group “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” respectively. Comparative monthly indices for the manufacturing sector and the group “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” are given in tables 9(b) and 10(b) respectively. The methodology used for the calculation of the index is given in annex.

2. Producer Price Index (Year 2003 = 100)

2.1 Monthly index

The Producer Price Index, which stood at 165.7 in June 2009 increased by 1.3% to attain 167.9 in September 2009. The index increased by 1.2% in July, 0.2% in August and decreased by 0.1% in September 2009 (Table 1).

The 1.2% increase in the overall index in July was mainly due to increases in the sub-indices of “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” (+1.9%), “Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products” (+2.7%) and “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” (+0.8%). The increase in the sub-index of “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco”, which accounts for nearly 50% of the overall weight, was due to increases in the “Production, processing and preservation of meat and meat products” (+6.2%), “Manufacture of sugar” (+18.6%) and “Manufacture of bakery products” (+1.1%), partly offset by a decrease in the “Manufacture of grain mill products” (-0.6%).

In August, the overall index increased by 0.2% due to increases in the sub-indices of “Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media” (+2.7%), “Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus” (+6.1%) and “Manufacture of textile” (+1.4%). The sub-index “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” remained unchanged in August.

In September, the index receded by 0.1%. This was due to decreases in “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” (-0.2%), “Manufacture of wood, wood products and cork except furniture” (-0.7%), partly offset by an increase in “Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus” (+7.7%). The 0.2% decrease in “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” was the result of a decrease in the sub-indices of “Manufacture of grain mill products” (-2.5%) and “Manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats” (-0.1%), partly offset by an increase in “Manufacture of other food products” (+1.0%).

The evolution of the monthly index by NSIC group for the period 2003 to 2008 is shown in Tables 2, 3, 6 and 7.

Table 4 gives the evolution of the Producer Price Index on a quarterly basis, the quarterly index being computed as the arithmetic mean of the monthly indices. The index which worked out to 166.2 in the second quarter of 2009 increased by 1.0% to reach 167.9 in the third quarter of 2009. This 1.0% increase was mainly due to increases in the sub-indices of “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” (+1.1%), “Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products” (+2.7%) and “Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media” (+1.8%).

Within “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco”, “Manufacture of food products” increased by 1.3%, mostly explained by higher prices of “Manufacture of sugar” (+18.6%), “Production, processing and preservation of meat and meat products” (+3.2%), “Manufacture of bakery products” (+1.1%) whilst “ Manufacture of beverages and tobacco” increased by 0.6% due to higher prices of “Distilling, blending and bottling of spirit” (+2.4%) and “Soft drinks” (+0.2%) . Details of changes are shown in Table 8.

Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2008, the overall index for the third quarter of 2009 went down by 3.3%. This was due to decreases in the sub-indices of “Manufacture of basic metals” (-39.5%), “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco” (-2.7%), and “Manufacture of fabricated metal products” (-3.4%), partly offset by higher prices in “Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products” (+4.5%), “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” (+3.5%), and “Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media” (+1.8%). Other details of changes are shown in Table 4.

Within “Manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco”, “Manufacture of food products” declined by 5.0% while “Manufacture of beverages and tobacco” went up by 3.0%. At a more detailed level, decreases were noted in the prices of “Manufacture of grain mill products” (-34.3%), “Manufacture of vegetables and animal oils and fats” (-9.1%), “Production, processing and preservation of meat and meat products” (-4.1%), “Manufacture of prepared animal feeds” (-1.8%), and increases in the prices of “Soft drinks” (+6.4%), “Distilling, blending & bottling of spirit” (+3.8%) and “Wine” (+3.8%). Other details on changes that have occurred during that period are given in Tables 4 and 8.

Central Statistics Office.

PORT LOUIS