Pretoria - The Producer Price Index (PPI) fell by 3.8 percent year-on-year, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Thursday.
The July figure of 3.8 percent was 0.3 percent lower than the corresponding annual rate of 4.1 percent recorded in June.
Stats SA said the PPI figure for July was a result of increases in changes in the indices for electricity, which increased from 23.1 percent in June to 27.4 percent July.
Other indices that had an impact were the products of petroleum and coal which saw an annual rate increase from -35.1 percent in June to -32.6 percent in July.
Commenting on the figure, Standard Bank economist Danelee van Dyk told BuaNews it was not what she expected.
"We were expecting a negative 4.7 percent drop. The number is lower than we expected. Electricity prices accounted higher than what we expected," said Ms van Dyk.
