Industrial producer price index drops by 0.5%

According to provisional figures issued by the National Statistics office, the producer price index for total industry decreased by 0.5% in December when compared to November, a decline attributable to a 0.9% drop in prices for intermediate goods, the NSO said.

Price movements in the domestic sphere also decreased by 0.1%, while intermediate and consumer goods declined by 0.5% and 0.1% respectively. No price changes were registered in the energy or capital goods sectors.

Producer prices in the non-domestic market decreased from 75.6 points in November to 75.0 points in December 2012, a monthly drop of 0.8%, which was due to a drop in intermediate goods prices.

There were no other changes for non-domestic producer prices.

Producer prices in respect for goods destined for the euro area decreased by 0.9%, while prices for the non-domestic non-euro area reported no material changes.

Annual comparison

Year-on-year comparisons indicate that producer prices for total industry remained stable. During this period, producer prices for intermediate goods went down by 0.7%.

This was completely offset by increases of 0.4% and 1.9% respectively for capital and consumer goods. No price changes were registered in energy prices, NSO said.

Producer prices for the domestic market edged up by 0.8%. This was caused by rises of intermediate, capital and consumer goods.

The period under review revealed that producer prices for goods destined for the non-domestic market decreased by 0.6% on account of a decline in prices in the euro area by 0.9%.

Mitigating this decease was a rise in prices for goods destined for the non-domestic non-euro area by 1.5%.