In August 2021 the Producer Price Index for Industrial Products increased by 1.2% compared to the previous month, while compared to August 2020 the index growth amounted to 16.4%,- show the preliminary data from the Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
According to the report, the prices for products from mining and quarrying increased by 0.3% compared to July 2021, resulting in a 0.02 percentage point contribution to the overall monthly PPI change. In the same period, the prices for manufactured products increased by 0.9%, contributing 0.74 percentage points to the monthly index change. Within the group, a noteworthy price increase was registered for basic metals (4.8%). Besides, the prices increased for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning by 4.1%, contributing 0.42 percentage points to the monthly index change.
The annual PPI rate was mainly affected by price changes for the following products:
• Products from mining and quarrying: the prices were 1.1 percent lower, contributing -0.16 percentage points to the overall annual index change. Within the group the prices were lower for the subgroup of metal ores (-9.2%);
• Manufactured products: the prices increased by 18.3 percent, contributing 14.61 percentage points to the overall annual index growth. There was a notable increase in the prices for the following subgroups: food products (16.5%), other non-metallic mineral products (11.2%) and basic metals (47.3%);
• Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: the annual price increase amounted to 10.7%, which contributed 1.12 percentage points to the annual index growth;
• Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation services: the annual price increase amounted to 30.1%, which contributed 0.83 percentage points to the annual index growth.