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Consumer Price Index Malaysia January 2013 (Updated: 20/02/2013)

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2013 increased by 1.3 per cent to 105.9 compared with that of 104.5 in the same month last year. When compared with the previous month, the CPI increased by 0.4 per cent.

The index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food for the month of January 2013 showed increases of 2.2 and 1.0 per cent respectively as compared to the same month in 2012. Compared to the previous month, the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food increased by 1.1 and 0.1 per cent respectively (Table 1).



CPI changes for January 2013 / 2012

The 1.3 per cent increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of Communication ( - 0.8 per cent ); Clothing & Footwear ( - 0.5 per cent) and Recreation Services & Culture ( - 0.1 per cent ). Notable increases among these main groups with high weights were Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 2.2 per cent ); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels ( + 1.4 per cent ) and Transport ( + 0.4 per cent ). Other increases were Restaurants & Hotels ( + 2.1 per cent ); Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco and Health by 2.0 per cent respectively; Education ( + 1.8 per cent ); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance and Miscellaneous Goods & Services by 1.7 per cent respectively.

Table 1 : CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR MAIN GROUPS, MALAYSIA (2010=100)

Group
Wt.
Index
% Change

Jan
2012

Dec
2012

Jan
2013

Jan 2013 /
Dec 2012
Jan 2013 /
Jan 2012
TOTAL
100.0
104.5
105.5
105.9
0.4
1.3
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
107.5
108.7
109.9
1.1
2.2
Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco
2.2
104.6
106.6
106.7
0.1
2.0
Clothing and Footwear
3.4
99.4
98.6
98.9
0.3
-0.5
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels
22.6
102.6
104.0
104.0
0.0
1.4
Furnishings, Household Equip. & Routine Household Maintenance
4.1
102.9
104.1
104.6
0.5
1.7
Health
1.3
103.9
105.8
106.0
0.2
2.0
Transport
14.9
104.9
105.3
105.3
0.0
0.4
Communication
5.7
99.4
98.8
98.6
-0.2
-0.8
Recreation Services & Culture
4.6
103.2
103.0
103.1
0.1
-0.1
Education
1.4
104.1
104.9
106.0
1.0
1.8
Restaurants and Hotels
3.2
107.8
109.9
110.1
0.2
2.1
Miscellaneous Goods & Services
6.3
103.8
104.9
105.6
0.7
1.7
Non-Food
69.7
103.2
104.1
104.2
0.1
1.0
Durable Goods
6.5
100.8
99.8
99.7
-0.1
-1.1
Semi-Durable Goods
4.4
100.2
99.4
99.7
0.3
-0.5
Non-Durable Goods
41.6
106.1
106.6
107.5
0.8
1.3
Services
47.5
104.1
105.7
105.9
0.2
1.7

Based on the above changes and the weights assigned to the main groups, the relative contribution to the overall increase of 1.3 per cent in the CPI can be identified as shown in Table 2. The three main groups, Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels and Transport together accounted for 75.4 per cent of the overall increase recorded for the current period.

Table 2 : CONTRIBUTION TO THE CHANGES IN THE OVERALL CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
BY MAIN GROUPS, MALAYSIA (2010=100)

Group
Wt.
2011 / 2010
2012 / 2011
January
2013 / 2012
% Change
% Contribution
% Change
% Contribution
% Change
% Contribution
TOTAL
100.0
3.2
100.0
1.6
100.0
1.3
100.0
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
4.8
46.4
2.7
50.5
2.2
54.7
Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco
2.2
4.6
3.2
0.4
0.6
2.0
2.5
Clothing and Footwear
3.4
-0.2
-0.3
-0.6
-1.2
-0.5
4.7
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels
22.6
1.8
12.5
1.6
21.7
1.4
17.6
Furnishings, Household Equip. & Routine Household Maintenance
4.1
1.8
2.3
2.0
4.7
1.7
6.5
Health
1.3
2.7
1.2
2.0
1.6
2.0
1.6
Transport
14.9
4.4
20.7
0.7
6.3
0.4
3.1
Communication
5.7
-0.3
-0.5
-0.6
-2.3
-0.8
-2.7
Recreation Services & Culture
4.6
2.0
2.8
1.2
3.1
-0.1
-0.2
Education
1.4
2.2
1.0
2.4
2.0
1.8
2.1
Restaurants and Hotels
3.2
5.9
6.0
2.9
5.9
2.1
4.4
Miscellaneous Goods & Services
6.3
2.4
4.7
2.0
7.1
1.7
5.7

The 2.2 per cent increase in the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages was the result of increases for Food At Home ( + 1.9 per cent ); Food Away From Home ( + 2.6 per cent ) and Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 2.1 per cent ). Among the subgroups of Food At Home which showed significant increases during this period were Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate and Confectionery ( + 5.1 per cent ); Meat ( + 3.5 per cent ); Fruits ( + 2.7 per cent ); Vegetables ( + 2.5 per cent ); Rice, Bread and Other Cereals ( + 1.9 per cent ) and Milk & Eggs ( + 1.8 per cent ).

Table 3 : CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR SUB-GROUPS OF FOOD AND
NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, MALAYSIA (2010=100)

Sub-group
Wt.
Index
% Change
Jan
2012
Dec
2012
Jan
2013
Jan 2013 /
Dec 2012
Jan 2013 /
Jan 2012
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
107.5
108.7
109.9
1.1
2.2
Food
28.9
107.7
108.8
110.1
1.2
2.2
Food At Home
18.9
108.0
108.4
110.1
1.6
1.9
Rice, Bread & Other Cereals
4.4
102.1
102.7
104.0
1.3
1.9
Meat
2.9
106.1
107.4
109.8
2.2
3.5
Fish & Seafood
4.5
114.1
112.6
115.3
2.4
1.1
Milk & Eggs
1.8
109.7
109.7
111.7
1.8
1.8
Oils and Fats
0.6
101.1
101.4
101.4
0.0
0.3
Fruits
1.2
107.5
109.6
110.4
0.7
2.7
Vegetables
2.1
107.8
109.3
110.5
1.1
2.5
Sugar, Jam, Honey, Choc. &
Confectionery
0.6
113.3
118.9
119.1
0.2
5.1
Food Products n.e.c.
0.8
110.0
109.9
110.2
0.3
0.2
Food Away From Home
10.0
107.2
109.6
110.0
0.4
2.6
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
1.4
104.1
106.2
106.3
0.1
2.1

Monthly Changes for CPI

Compared with the previous month, the CPI for January 2013 increased by 0.4 per cent. Increases were from main groups Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 1.1 per cent ); Education ( + 1.0 per cent ); Miscellaneous Goods & Services ( + 0.7 per cent ); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance ( + 0.5 per cent ); Clothing & Footwear ( + 0.3 per cent ); Health and Restaurants & Hotels by 0.2 per cent respectively; Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco and Recreation Services & Culture by 0.1 per cent respectively. On the other hand, the main group Communication showed a decrease of 0.2 per cent. The indices for Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels and Transport remained unchanged at 104.0 and 105.3 respectively.

The 1.1 per cent increase in the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages in January 2013 compared with that of the previous month was the result of increases in the index for Food At Home ( + 1.6 per cent ); Food Away From Home ( + 0.4 per cent ) and Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 0.1 per cent ).

Among the food items which recorded notable increases in the index in January 2013 compared with the previous month were Sweetened Biscuits ( + 20.7 per cent ); Tomatoes ( + 16.8 per cent ); Long Beans ( + 7.5 per cent ); Cuttlefish ( + 5.8 per cent ); Powdered Milk ( + 5.4 per cent ); Onions, Big ( + 5.1 per cent ); Round Scad (Fish) ( + 4.8 per cent ); Chicken ( + 3.9 per cent ); Hen’s Eggs ( + 3.9 per cent ); Round Cabbage ( + 3.7 per cent ); Spanish Mackerel (Fish) ( + 3.0 per cent ); Longtail Tuna (Fish)  ( + 3.0 per cent ); Indian Mackerel (Fish) ( + 2.8 per cent ) and Prawns ( + 2.6 per cent ).

Meanwhile, the index of some food items decreased in January 2013 compared with the previous month. Among these were Spinach ( - 6.4 per cent ); Choy Sum ( - 5.9 per cent ); Water Spinach ( - 4.2 per cent ); Garlic ( - 1.2 per cent );  Red Chillies ( - 0.8 per cent ) and Watermelon ( - 0.6 per cent ).

A reclassification of items according to their durability and services rendered showed increases in Non-Durable Goods ( + 0.8 per cent ); Semi-Durable Goods ( + 0.3 per cent )and Services ( + 0.2 per cent ) while Durable Goods decreased by 0.1 per cent.