South Africa’s producer inflation eased to 2.7% year on year in July from 4.8% in June, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.
It was the softest reading since October 2020, prompted by another decline in prices of coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (-8.3% vs 2.9% in June), of which coal and petroleum products (-14.5% vs -7.9%).
Moreover, costs slowed down for food products, beverages and tobacco products (5.8% vs 6.4%); paper and printed products (10.6% vs 14.5%); non-metallic mineral products (5.6% vs 6.7%); transport equipment (9.6% vs 12.3%) and furniture and other manufacturing (7.6% vs 9.8%).
On a monthly basis, producer prices went up by 0.2% in July, after a 0.3% fall in the prior month and compared with market expectations of a 0.4% increase
