Durrant Pate/Contributor

There was a negligible increase in output prices for producers in the Mining and Quarrying industry for August 2023.

However, at the same time, prices in the Manufacturing industry increased by 1.9 per cent. The negligible movement in the Mining and Quarrying industry was attributed to the stability of the exchange rate during the period.

The index for the major groups ‘Bauxite Mining & Alumina Processing’ and ‘Other Mining & Quarrying’ each registered negligible changes in their respective index. An increase of 10.8 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Refined Petroleum Products’, due mainly to increased fuel prices on the international market, was the main contributor to the 1.9 per cent increase in the Manufacturing industry.

Contributory factors

The index for the heaviest weighted major group within the industry, ‘Food, Beverages & Tobacco’, had a negligible change. This was largely due to a combination of factors, including a stable Jamaican dollar in comparison to the United States dollar and the relatively stable prices for inputs used by manufacturers.

For the period August 2022 – August 2023, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reports that the index for the Mining & Quarrying industry increased by 6.3 per cent, as a result of a similar 6.3 per cent rise in the index for the major group ‘Bauxite Mining & Alumina Processing’. The point-to-point index for the Manufacturing industry increased by 0.4 per cent.

This was due primarily to an increase of 2.6 per cent in the index for the major group ‘Food, Beverages & Tobacco’. However, the movement was tempered by a 9.0 per cent decline in the index for ‘Refined Petroleum Products’.