Producer prices in Oman saw a 1.7 percent annual decline in the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The producer price index data reveals that the mining and quarrying sector saw a 1.4 percent decline in prices due mainly to a 1.5 percent decline in crude oil and natural gas prices. In addition, the prices of sand clay declined 1.4 percent while prices of metal ore products saw a remarkable increase of 16.4 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Notably, oil prices continued their decline in April, falling 2.1 percent to $80 per barrel while Oman’s average daily production also saw a 6.4 percent decline at the end of April 2024. Crude oil production declined 8.2 percent while the production of condensates rose by 4 percent by the end of April 2024.
Read: UAE Central Bank revises inflation forecast downwards to 2.3 percent in 2024
The NCSI also reveals that the prices of the manufacturing industries group saw a 2.6 percent decline. The most notable decline in this subgroup was a 4.6 percent decline in transport prices. Meanwhile, prices of metal products, machinery and equipment declined 0.2 percent. In contrast, prices of food, beverages, and textiles rose 0.1 percent.
The decline in Oman’s producer prices falls in line with its lower inflation levels in Q1 which reached 0.17 percent by the end of March 2024, before rising by 0.4 percent in April.
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