Malaysia's producer price index falls 4.8 pct in June

Malaysia's producer price index (PPI), which measures the prices of goods received by domestic producers, decreased further by 4.8 percent in June following a drop of 4.6 percent in May, official data showed on Thursday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector continued to decline for the sixth consecutive month in June.

The sector plunged 20.4 percent due to the decrease of the oil palm fresh fruit bunches index.

The mining sector fell by 16.6 percent, dragged down by the decline in the extraction of crude petroleum index.

The manufacturing sector also decreased by 1.8 percent.

For the utility sector, water supply and electricity and gas supply indices went up 3.2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

On a monthly basis, the PPI for local production slipped 0.3 percent in June.

As for the second quarter, the PPI declined by 4.1 percent, dragged by falls in agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing sectors.

A quarter-on-quarter comparison showed that the PPI for local production marginally declined by 0.1 percent.

As for the first half of this year, Malaysia's PPI dropped by 2.5 per cent as compared to the same period last year.