KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's producer price index (PPI), which measures the prices of goods at factory gate, slipped to a negative growth of 0.8 percent in February against 1.3 percent in January, official data showed Monday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that this is the first negative rate recorded since January 2021 due to base effect and lower prices of primary commodities.

According to the DOSM, the downward trend was primarily due to the decrease in agriculture, forestry and fishing and mining sectors.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing index decreased by 26.1 percent with fresh fruit bunches index plunged 40.5 percent in February.

At the same time, the mining index fell 6.5 percent mainly due to a drop of extraction of crude petroleum index at 16.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing index increased by 3 percent in February, moderating from 4.5 percent in the previous month, as a result of the increase of manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products index.

Whereas for utility sector, water supply as well as electricity and gas supply indices edged up 3.7 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

On a monthly basis, the PPI for local production declined 0.2 percent in February as compared to a negative growth of 0.8 percent in the previous month. Enditem

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