Food inflation surges to 4.1%, CPI at 2.3% in April

KUALA LUMPUR - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April 2022 increased 2.3 per cent to 125.9 compared with 123.1 in the same month of the preceding year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said.

According to its CPI April 2022 released today, the DoSM said the increase surpassed the average inflation in Malaysia for the period of January 2011-April 2022 (1.9 per cent).

Chief statistician Datuk Sri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said food inflation in April was higher at 4.1 per cent with 89.1 per cent of food items in the food & beverages (F&B) group recording increases.

This was followed by restaurants & hotels (3.2 per cent), transport (3.0 per cent), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (2.7 per cent), miscellaneous goods & services (1.8 per cent), and recreation services & culture (1.3 per cent), he said in a statement today.

Mohd Uzir said education increased 1.0 per cent, and housing, water, electricity, and gas & other fuels climbed 0.8 per cent.

He said alcoholic beverages & tobacco and health increased marginally by 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

"Communication remained unchanged, while clothing & footwear declined 0.2 per cent compared to the same month of the preceding year,” he said.

Elaborating the report, he said the increase in food inflation, which contributed the highest to the overall weight of CPI, remained to be a major contributor to inflation.

"Inflation for this group increased 4.1 per cent in April 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year.

"The increase in food & non-alcoholic beverages group was largely due to an increase in the component for food away from home which inclined 4.4 per cent compared to 4.0 per cent in March 2022,” he said.

He added that all subgroups in food & non-alcoholic beverages such as milk, cheese & eggs (7.2 per cent), meat (6.2 per cent), vegetables (4.5 per cent), and fish & seafood (3.8 per cent) recorded increases.

"The increase in vegetable prices was due to weather uncertainties that have affected the maturity of vegetables and caused a decline in supply in the market.

"In addition, the incline in the prices was attributed to the increase of fertiliser prices, logistics costs and labour shortage at agricultural sites,” he said.

Furthermore, the increase in the transport group was largely due the increase in the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 of RM3.84 per litre compared to RM2.55 per litre in the same month last year.

This was in line with the 63.3 per cent increase in Brent crude oil prices to US$105.78 per barrel in April 2022.

On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.2 per cent compared to March 2022, attributted by food & non-alcoholic beverages, transport, recreation services & culture, and restaurants & hotels which increased marginally by 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Besides, he said all states registered increases in inflation with the highest increase recorded by Selangor and the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (3.1 per cent).

He added that inflation for the income group below RM3,000 increased 2.3 per cent from 123.6 in April 2021 to 126.4 per cent in April 2022.