Provisional data indicate that the industrial producer price index in March increased by 2.0 per cent when compared to the previous month, the National Statistics office said today.

In March, the producer price index for total industry went up by 2.0 per cent over the previous month. This was due to a rise in intermediate and consumer goods by 4.0 and 0.2 per cent respectively. The rise in prices for intermediate goods reversed the downward trend observed in the previous five months.

General price movements in the domestic sphere remained relatively stable as a decrease in intermediate goods by 0.2 per cent was offset by an increase in prices for consumer goods.

The non-domestic sector was characterised by an overall increase of 3.6 per cent. The major contributor to this rise was intermediate goods (+4.4 per cent). An increase of 0.3 per cent was also registered in the consumer goods sector.

Producer prices in respect of goods destined for the euro area went up by 4.0 per cent, while prices for goods destined for the non-euro area increased by 0.6 per cent.

On an annual basis, the producer price index declined from 96.4 to 95.4 points. During this period, producer prices for intermediate goods went down by 2.2 per cent. Offsetting this was an increase of 1.1 per cent in the consumer goods sector. No price changes were registered for energy and capital goods.

Producer prices for the domestic market edged up by 0.8 per cent, resulting from an increase in prices for intermediate and consumer goods by 4.9 and 1.3 per cent respectively.

The period under review revealed that producer prices for goods destined for the non-domestic market decreased by 2.2 per cent on account of a drop in prices in the euro and non-euro areas of 2.4 and 0.3 per cent respectively.

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