South Africa's annual headline producer price inflation surprisingly eased to 3.0% in April from 3.1% in March, data released by Statistics South Africa showed. Economists expected the PPI inflation to accelerate to 3.4% last month, according to a Business Day survey.
Compared to the previous month, factory prices rose 0.9% in April, slowing from a 1.8% growth in March.
The main contributor to the annual headline producer inflation last month again was the group of foods, beverages and tobacco products with a 5.4% y/y growth and a 1.8pp contribution to the PPI, (+6.0% y/y, 2.0pp contribution in March).
On the other hand, deflation in the group of coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products, softened to 7.5% y/y from 9.3% y/y in March. The group contributed -1.6pp to the overall price development versus -2.0pp in March.
Producer prices are a key preliminary indicator for the dynamics in consumer price inflation, which quickened to 4.5% y/y in April from 4% in March.
As of January 2013, Statistics South Africa releases five separate industry-specific PPIs, with final manufactured goods representing the headline number. The other four PPIs cover agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; electricity and water; and intermediate manufactured goods (see the table below).
| Producer price inflation | Apr-15 | Mar-15 | Apr-15 | Mar-15 |
| y/y | y/y | m/m | m/m | |
| Final manufactured goods | 3.0% | 3.1% | 0.9% | 1.8% |
| Intermediate manufactured goods | -0.2% | 0.9% | -0.7% | 0.3% |
| Electricity and water | 10.4% | 8.6% | 4.7% | -1.2% |
| Mining | -4.7% | -4.4% | -1.0% | -0.1% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 4.5% | -1.0% | 1.7% | 1.5% |
| Source: Statistics South Africa |
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