Kenya’s Producer Inflation Slightly Rises by 0.49 in 2018s Third Quarter

Kenya’s Producer Price Index for the Third Quarter of 2018 rose marginally by 0.49 percent from 119.37 points in June to 119.96 points in September, says the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

According to the body, the producer inflation index was elevated by an increase in sugar and timber prices.

“The increase in the index was mainly due to higher costs in the prices of timber and sugar,” said the KNBS.

During the period under review, the country was rocked with sugar inadequacy as a result of the crackdown on contraband imports.

A ton of sugar stood at 1,065 US dollars at the end of September, a substantial deviation from the 816 dollars in June.

Also, Kenya placed a ban on logging leading, which led to a scarcity of wood products that includes timber and charcoal.

According to the statistics, the price of beverages increased 2.36 percent, basic metals by 1.55 percent, chemicals, and chemicals products by 6.34 percent and rubber and plastic products by 4.06 percent. Consequently, the cost of mining and quarrying increased by 9.83 percent.

Nevertheless, the cost of food products fell by -4.18 percent, electricity by -7.28 percent, and other non-metallic mineral products by -0.43 percent as shown below.

On average, the Producer Prices Change in Kenya stood at 2.06 percent from 2012 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 6.77 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 and a record low of -2.76 percent in the third quarter of 2016.

Here is a graph showing the change.

Graph 1: Year on Year Percentage Changes on Producer Prices

Among selected producer product prices, the change is as represented below.

Tale 2: Prices of Selected producer Products