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Consumer Price Index Malaysia July 2013 (Updated: 21/8/2013)

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the period  January to July 2013 increased by 1.7 per cent to 106.4 compared with that of 104.6 in the same period last year. Compared with the same month in 2012, the CPI for July 2013 registered an increase of 2.0 per cent from 104.8 to 106.9 and when compared with the previous month, the CPI increased by 0.2 per cent.

The index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food for the month of July 2013 showed increases of 3.9 and 1.2 per cent respectively as compared to the same month in 2012. For the period January to July 2013, the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food increased by 3.4 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively. Compared with the previous month, the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased by 0.7 per cent while the index for Non-Food remained unchanged at 104.7 (Table 1).



CPI changes for the period January - July 2013 / 2012

The 1.7 per cent increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of Clothing & Footwear and Communication which decreased by 0.7 per cent respectively and Recreation Services & Culture ( - 0.1 per cent ). Notable increases among these main groups with high weights were Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 3.4 per cent ); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels ( + 1.7 per cent ) and Transport ( + 0.5 per cent ). Other increases were Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco ( + 2.7 per cent ); Education and Restaurants & Hotels by 2.2 per cent respectively; Health ( + 1.9 per cent ); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance ( + 1.6 per cent ) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services ( + 0.7 per cent ).

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

Group
Wt.
Index
% Change
Jul 2012
Jun 2013
Jul 2013
Jan - Jul 2012
Jan - Jul 2013
Jul 2013/
Jun 2013
Jul 2013/
Jul 2012
Jan - Jul 2013/2012
TOTAL
100.0
104.8
106.7
106.9
104.6
106.4
0.2
2.0
1.7
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
107.8
111.2
112.0
107.1
110.7
0.7
3.9
3.4
Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco
2.2
104.7
109.1
109.1
104.6
107.4
0.0
4.2
2.7
Clothing and Footwear
3.4
99.1
98.6
98.3
99.4
98.7
-0.3
-0.8
-0.7
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels
22.6
103.3
105.3
105.3
103.0
104.7
0.0
1.9
1.7
Furnishings, Household Equip. & Routine Household Maintenance
4.1
103.8
105.5
105.5
103.5
105.2
0.0
1.6
1.6
Health
1.3
104.8
106.6
106.7
104.4
106.4
0.1
1.8
1.9
Transport
14.9
104.5
105.3
105.4
105.0
105.5
0.1
0.9
0.5
Communication
5.7
99.1
98.4
98.4
99.2
98.5
0.0
-0.7
-0.7
Recreation Services & Culture
4.6
103.3
103.0
103.0
103.2
103.1
0.0
-0.3
-0.1
Education
1.4
104.7
107.3
107.4
104.6
106.9
0.1
2.6
2.2
Restaurants and Hotels
3.2
109.2
111.4
111.5
108.6
111.0
0.1
2.1
2.2
Miscellaneous Goods & Services
6.3
104.5
104.1
103.9
104.1
104.8
-0.2
-0.6
0.7
Non-Food
69.7
103.5
104.7
104.7
103.5
104.5
0.0
1.2
1.0
Durable Goods
6.5
100.1
98.2
97.6
100.4
98.9
-0.6
-2.5
-1.5
Semi-Durable Goods
4.4
99.9
99.5
99.2
100.2
99.6
-0.3
-0.7
-0.6
Non-Durable Goods
41.6
105.9
108.1
108.7
105.7
107.9
0.6
2.6
2.1
Services
47.5
105.0
107.2
107.3
104.6
106.7
0.1
2.2
2.0

Based on the above changes and the weights assigned to the main groups, the relative contribution to the overall increase of 1.7 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 80.2 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.
2012 / 2011
July
2013 / 2012
January - July
2013 / 2012
% Change
% Contribution
% Change
% Contribution
% Change
% Contribution
TOTAL
100.0
1.6
100.0
2.0
100.0
1.7
100.0
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
2.7
50.5
3.9
58.2
3.4
56.5
Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco
2.2
0.4
0.6
4.2
4.2
2.7
3.1
Clothing and Footwear
3.4
-0.6
-1.2
-0.8
3.8
-0.7
4.4
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels
22.6
1.6
21.7
1.9
21.3
1.7
19.5
Furnishings, Household Equip. & Routine Household Maintenance
4.1
2.0
4.7
1.6
4.6
1.6
5.3
Health
1.3
2.0
1.6
1.8
1.1
1.9
1.4
Transport
14.9
0.7
6.3
0.9
5.7
0.5
4.2
Communication
5.7
-0.6
-2.3
-0.7
-2.0
-0.7
-2.2
Recreation Services & Culture
4.6
1.2
3.1
-0.3
-0.6
-0.1
-0.4
Education
1.4
2.4
2.0
2.6
1.7
2.2
1.7
Restaurants and Hotels
3.2
2.9
5.9
2.1
3.2
2.2
3.9
Miscellaneous Goods & Services
6.3
2.0
7.1
-0.6
-1.2
0.7
2.6

The 3.4 per cent increase in the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages was the result of increases for Food At Home ( + 3.6 per cent ); Food Away From Home ( + 2.8 per cent ) and Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 1.5 per cent ). Among the subgroups of Food At Home which showed significant increases during this period as shown in Table 3 were Meat ( + 5.7 per cent ); Vegetables ( + 5.6 per cent ); Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate and Confectionery ( + 5.1 per cent ); Fish & Seafood ( + 4.3 per cent ); Fruits ( + 3.5 per cent ); Milk & Eggs ( + 3.1 per cent ) and Rice, Bread and Other Cereals ( + 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
Jul 2012
Jun 2013
Jul 2013
Jan - Jul 2012
Jan - Jul 2013
Jul 2013/
Jun 2013
Jul 2013/
Jul 2012
Jan - Jul 2013/2012
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
30.3
107.8
111.2
112.0
107.1
110.7
0.7
3.9
3.4
Food
28.9
107.9
111.4
112.2
107.3
110.9
0.7
4.0
3.4
Food At Home
18.9
107.5
111.2
112.4
106.9
110.8
1.1
4.6
3.6
Rice, Bread & Other Cereals
4.4
102.4
104.4
104.3
102.4
104.2
-0.1
1.9
1.8
Meat
2.9
107.0
111.9
115.9
105.3
111.3
3.6
8.3
5.7
Fish & Seafood
4.5
114.0
118.0
120.1
112.3
117.1
1.8
5.4
4.3
Milk & Eggs
1.8
109.0
112.4
114.0
108.8
112.2
1.4
4.6
3.1
Oils and Fats
0.6
101.2
100.9
100.7
101.3
101.1
-0.2
-0.5
-0.2
Fruits
1.2
108.2
111.6
112.1
107.8
111.6
0.4
3.6
3.5
Vegetables
2.1
102.8
109.5
108.6
103.1
108.9
-0.8
5.6
5.6
Sugar, Jam, Honey, Choc. &
Confectionery
0.6
113.7
119.4
119.5
113.5
119.3
0.1
5.1
5.1
Food Products n.e.c.
0.8
110.0
111.0
111.2
110.1
110.7
0.2
1.1
0.5
Food Away From Home
10.0
108.7
111.7
111.9
108.0
111.0
0.2
2.9
2.8
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
1.4
105.5
106.7
106.7
104.9
106.5
0.0
1.1
1.5

Monthly Changes for CPI

Compared with the previous month, the CPI for July 2013 increased by 0.2 per cent. Increases were for main groups Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 0.7 per cent ); Health; Transport;  Education and Restaurants & Hotels by 0.1 per cent respectively. On the other hand, decreases were for Clothing & Footwear ( - 0.3 per cent ) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services ( - 0.2 per cent ).  The indices for Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels; Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance; Communication and Recreation Services & Culture remained unchanged at 109.1; 105.3; 105.5; 98.4 and 103.0 respectively.

The 0.7 per cent increase in the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages in July 2013 compared with that of the previous month was the result of increases in the index for Food At Home ( + 1.1 per cent ) and Food Away From Home ( + 0.2 per cent ) while the index for Coffee, Tea, Cocoa & Non-Alcoholic Beverages remained unchanged at 106.7.

Among the food items which recorded notable increases in July 2013 compared with the previous month were Tomatoes ( + 15.8 per cent ); Round Scad (Fish) ( + 6.7 per cent ); Chicken ( + 6.2 per cent ); Hardtail Scad (Fish) ( + 5.6 per cent ); Watermelon ( + 4.9 per cent ); Powdered Milk Infant ( + 3.7 per cent ); Prawn ( + 2.6 per cent ); Long Beans ( + 2.0 per cent ); Cuttlefish ( + 1.8 per cent ); Beef, Local ( + 1.6 per cent ) and Indian Mackerel (Fish) ( + 1.3 per cent ).

Meanwhile, the index of some food items decreased in July 2013 compared with the previous month. Among these were Cucumber ( - 8.7 per cent ); Choy Sum ( - 7.2 per cent ); Kai Lan ( - 6.1 per cent ); Red Chillies ( - 5.2 per cent ); Garlic ( - 5.0 per cent ) and Round Cabbage ( - 1.7 per cent ).

A reclassification of items according to their durability and services rendered showed increases in the index for Non-Durable Goods and Services by 0.6 and 0.1 per cent respectively while the index for Durable Goods and Semi-Durable Goods decreased by 0.6 and 0.3 per cent respectively.