Provisional estimates reveal that the industrial producer price index in March increased by 2.8 per cent when compared with the previous month, and down by 2.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2009.

Monthly comparison

In March, the producer price index for total industry went up by 2.8 per cent, primarily due to an increase of 5.1 per cent in producer prices in the intermediate goods sector. Prices for consumer and capital goods declined by 0.1 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. No price change was registered in the energy sector.

Producer prices for the domestic market remained stable. Whereas capital and consumer goods decreased by 8.5 and 0.2 per cent respectively, these were offset by an increase in prices within the intermediate goods sector, of 0.4 per cent.

During the period under review, prices for the non-domestic market rose by 4.5 per cent. While prices for goods destined for the euro area rose by 5.0 per cent, prices of goods directed towards the non-euro area, edged down by 0.1 per cent.

Overall, producer prices for the euro area advanced by 5.0 per cent, on account of a 5.9 per cent rise in prices for intermediate goods. Furthermore, prices for capital goods declined by 0.1 per cent. On the other hand, producer prices remained stable in the consumer goods sector. Producer prices for goods destined for the non-euro area declined on aggregate by 0.1 per cent, as a result of a decrease of 0.3 per cent in the prices for intermediate goods. On the other hand, an increase of 0.2 per cent was registered in the non-durable consumer goods sector.

Annual comparison

Producer prices for total industry for the period under review decreased by 2.5 per cent, on account of lower producer prices obtained for intermediate, capital and consumer goods, by 6.4, 0.5 and 0.2 per cent respectively. These price declines were partially mitigated by an increase of 5.0 per cent in energy prices.

Year-on-year, producer prices within the domestic market grew by 3.7 per cent as a result of increases in energy (+5.0 per cent) and consumer goods (+0.5 per cent), while intermediate and capital goods fell by 2.7 and 5.7 per cent respectively.

The period under review revealed that producer prices for goods destined for the non-domestic market were down by 5.7 per cent, mainly on account of a 6.4 per cent drop in prices of goods for the euro area. However, producer prices for the non-euro area increased by 0.9 per cent when compared to March 2009.

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