NEWS RELEASE
Producer Price Index
Highlights
April 2007

June 28, 2007

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) recently released a new economic indicator, the Producer Price Index (PPI) that is being published monthly. The monthly bulletin of producer prices represents a new time series that tracks price movements at the level of the producer for the Mining & Quarrying and Manufacturing industries. The data will be published with a two month lag and all indices are subject to two subsequent revisions after the original release. In April 2007, there was a revision of the overall index for Manufacturing resulting from adjustments to some group indices.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for Mining and Quarrying in April 2007 rose by 0.3 per cent. This increase was 0.1 percentage point higher than the 0.2 per cent rise recorded for March 2007. The index for Manufacturing showed that output prices increased by 1.3 per cent. There was a similar increase of 1.3 per cent in the index for Manufacturing in March 2007, while a 1.5 per cent increase was recorded in February.

For the period April 2006 to April 2007 the index increased by 4.2 percent in the Mining & Quarrying industry and by 10.8 per cent in Manufacturing. Revised Quarterly movements in the Producer Price Index for Manufacturing showed an increase of 2.8 per cent, when the first quarter of 2007 is compared to the last quarter of 2006.

The Producer Price Index Bulletin for April 2007 provides detailed information on the movement of producer prices and is available at the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s distribution centre located at 7 Cecelio Avenue, Kingston 10.