Year-on-year producer price inflation for all commodities sank to 1,1% last month from 3,3% in April, Statistics SA reported on Wednesday.
Stats SA ascribed the latest production price index (PPI) partly to a lower inflation rate in the price indices for products of petroleum and coal.
The rate for these products fell from 4,9% in April to minus 13,9% last month.
There was also a drop in the rates for furniture (from 8,3% in April to 4% last month), food at manufacturing (from 6,9 to 3,3%) and transport equipment (from 6,6 to 4,6%).
Other products that showed a declining rate included electrical machinery and apparatus, radio, television and communications equipment, and basic metals.
Stats SA said these factors were slightly counteracted by a higher rate of increase for agricultural products. Their rate rose from minus 4,5% in April to 0,5% last month.
The annual percentage change in the PPI for locally produced commodities stood at 3,4% last month, down from 5,1% in April.
This was the lowest local PPI recorded since June 1998, when the figure was 3,2%.
The price indices for paper products and printing, transport equipment and food at manufacturing were among the contributing factors.
The PPI for imported goods declined to minus 4,8% last month, the lowest since February 1998 when it was minus 2,4%. The figure for April this year stood at minus 1,4%.
Factors contributing to the latest PPI for imported goods included annual decreases in the price indices for mining and quarrying products, and for radio and television equipment. – Sapa