Kenya National Bureau of Statistics hereby releases the Producer Price Index (PPI) for the March quarter of 2014. Producer Price Index measures the gross changes in the trading price of products on the domestic and the non-domestic markets, at all stages of processing. The price changes are measured from the perspective of the producer. The producer prices are collected as at 15th February, 15th May, 15th August and 15th November of the year. These dates corresponds to the first, second, third and fourth quarters respectively.
The Producer Price Indices are grouped according to the International Standards of Industrial Classifications of All Economic Activities (ISIC) Rev 4. The overall producer prices increased by 0.47 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 compared to 0.37 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013. The ‘year on year’ PPI inflation, from March 2013 to March 2014 was 0.10 per cent. The main contributors in the first quarter increases were manufacture of beverages and manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. Under manufacture of beverages the producer prices for malt liquor and malt increased and this caused the index to rise by 7.68 per cent. Manufacture of food products declined by 1.4 per cent mainly due to falls in producer prices of sugar and tea.