PPI data postponed to March 5

Johannesburg - The release of the Producer Price Index (PPI) for January 2013 from Stats SA has been delayed to Tuesday‚ 5 March at 11:30‚ the statistics agency says.

It was originally scheduled for release on 28 February.

“Stats SA is mandated to provide quality statistics‚ as well as to ensure that these are well understood and communicated. Stats SA is concerned that users would not have been able to devote adequate attention to this release given that the budget speech is taking place on the day preceding the original release date‚ and that the GDP figures are also to be released that week. Considering the scale of the changes to the release‚ Stats SA wishes to ensure that all users are properly aware of the new features of the PPI‚” it said.

The January 2013 PPI will be the first to feature five industry-specific PPIs‚ with a new weighting structure and product list.

The new PPI will not feature an aggregate headline PPI. Rather‚ the PPI for final manufactured goods will be the headline PPI.