The general public felt the brunt of high prices of processed food, printing/ publishing and metal products following increases in prices of these items in the third quarter of 2009.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) that measures the average change in prices of goods and services as they leave the manufacturer, released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics yesterday, shows that during the period (July to September), processed food prices increased by 1.2 per cent.

It states that prices of dairy products went up by 44 per cent, paper products increased by 3.3 per cent, printing and publishing prices went up by 7.1 per cent, while metal products rose to 5.8 per cent.

The cause

Speaking during the release of the PPI, the Principal Statistician Business and Industry Statistics, Ms Imelda Atai, said prices for raw materials of metal products increased significantly due to global economic recovery, with China taking the largest percentage of the raw materials for metal products.

Recovery

"The metal products sector showed a recovery after a persistent fall in prices from the beginning of the year because of high demand for metal products and limited supply of scrap for some industries," she said.

For manufactured goods produced for exports, Ms Atai said their prices experienced a decrease of 3.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the 12.5 per cent increase registered in second quarter of 2009 due to competition from the neighbouring countries.

"Decrease was registered in almost all the sectors. This was mainly due to the persistent fall of the exchange rate which saw the Uganda shilling appreciating the US dollars during the period," she said.

"However, for only metal products, prices recovered and rose by 24 per cent in quarter three of 2009 compared to the 41.2 per cent decrease registered in quarter two. This was mainly due to increased cost in raw material," she added.

Overall, UBOS says prices during the third quarter increased by 0.6 per cent compared to 4.9 per cent in second quarter of 2009.

The bureau also released the PPI for construction sector which measures the change in the prices of inputs in the construction sector. The Principal Statistician, Mr Peter Opio, said during the period, the average prices in the whole sector rose by approximately by one per cent.