Sultanate's year on year quarterly producer inflation stood at 15.3%, with prices of oil and gas products rising by 18.9% and non-oil product prices up by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to latest data released by the (NCSI). Crude oil and natural gas rose by 16.8% while refined oil products logged a price rise of 32.4% in the first quarter compared with prices for the same quarter of 2016.
The prices of non-oil products rose by 5%, with the majority of their subgroups rising by varying percentages. Metal products, machinery and equipment rose by 5.6%, other transportable products by 5.5%, food products, beverages and textiles by 3.4%. In contrast, producers' prices for mining, electricity and water products decreased by 4% compared to the first quarter of 2016. This decrease was due to the decrease of 4.8% in the prices of producers of electrical and water products. Prices of dairy products, fish, fruits, vegetables & oils products, and beverage products rose by 11.5%, 6.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Prices of bakery products declined by 0.3%, clothing, textiles and footwear by 0.4%, while the prices of other food products stabilized.
The prices of products of gases, acids and polypropylene products rose by 19.6%. In contrast, the prices of paints and pharmaceutical products declined by 6.5% and rubber and plastic products declined by 2.9%. The prices of wood and paper products also fell by 1.4%, and glass, cement and marble products by 0.1%.
In the metal products, machinery and equipment group, the increase was due to an increase of 18.1% in the prices of raw and products of steel or aluminium products, compared to a decrease of 3.8% in the prices of distribution and delivery of electricity apparatus and recording tapes and CDs, while products for air conditioning, heating & water pumping & drilling of oil wells registered a price fall of 0.1%
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