Oman's producer price index registers a sharp 19.1% drop

Muscat: Oman producer price index-based inflation registered a sharp 19.1% drop in the second quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter last year, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics & Information (NCSI).
The producer price index (PPI) decline was mainly driven by a 22.3 per cent fall in the price of oil and gas products along with a 23.7 per cent dip in crude oil and natural gas prices, according NCSI data.
Refined oil products declined by 12.4 per cent while non-oil products logged a 6.3 per cent fall during the quarter. Other sets that experienced price decline include non-oil manufacturing (8.4 per cent); food, beverages and textile products (3.1 per cent) and transportable goods (5.1 per cent).
Prices of fish, fruit, vegetables & oils subset declined by 4.7 per cent while dairy products fell by 7.9 per cent. Beverages subset witnessed a price fall of 0.1 per cent in the second quarter.
Price fall was recorded across gases, acids and polypropylene products (11.2 per cent); paints and pharmaceutical products (3.3 per cent); rubber and plastic products (6.1 per cent); furniture and jewellery (1.2 per cent); and steel/aluminium and related products (9.1 per cent) as well.
Producer price index of fabricated products using steel/aluminium too declined in the second quarter by 19.2 per cent while metal products, machinery and equipment recorded a fall of 18 per cent. Distribution and delivery of electric appliances, tapes and CDs slipped by 26.6 per cent.
On the other hand, glass, cement and marble products registered a price rise of 0.8 per cent, as did heating, conditioning, oil well drilling apparatus, car oil and filters, whose PPI rose by 1.3 per cent.
However, compared to the first quarter of the current year, the Sultanate’s PPI increased by a marginal 1.0 per cent in the second quarter, the NCSI bulletin said.