Jamaica’s Producer Price Index for June 2023 shows prices in ‘mining and quarrying’ outpacing prices in ‘manufacturing’ by one per cent.

Output prices for producers in the mining and quarrying industry increased by 1.2 per cent while prices in the manufacturing industry increased by a mere 0.2 per cent, as released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).

The increase in the index for the mining and quarrying industry was attributed to a rise in the index for the heavier weighted major group ‘Bauxite Mining & Alumina Processing’ of 1.2 per cent.

The index for the other major group, ‘Other Mining & Quarrying’, moved up by 0.3 per cent. Increases in the index for the major groups ‘Refined Petroleum Products’ (0.9 per cent) and ‘Paper and Paper Products’ (2.0 per cent) were the main contributors to the 0.2 per cent increase in the index for the manufacturing industry.

This was however tempered by a decline of 0.1 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Food, Beverages & Tobacco’ and 0.5 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Chemicals and Chemical Products’. For the period June 2022 – June 2023, the index for the Mining & Quarrying industry declined by 4.6  per cent.

This decline was attributed to a decrease of 4.9 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Bauxite Mining & Alumina Processing’. The point-to-point index for the manufacturing industry fell by 3.3 per cent due primarily to a decline of 26.8 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Refined Petroleum Products’.

However, the decline in the index for the industry was moderated by an increase of 3.0 per cent in the index for the heaviest weighted major group ‘Food, Beverages & Tobacco’.