Industrial producer price index drops by 0.8% in February

According to figures published by the National Statistics Office, in February, the producer price index for total industry decreased by 0.8% over the previous month.

This was due to a decline in both intermediate and consumer goods by 1.5% and 0.1% respectively, the NSO said.

Prices for intermediate goods have been on the decline since reaching 76.9 points in September 2012. The index dropped to 69.0 points in February.

General price movements in the domestic sphere remained relatively stable as a minor upward movement in intermediate goods was offset by a marginal decline in consumer goods.

The non-domestic sector was characterised by a drop of 1.7% in the prices of intermediate goods, which resulted in an overall decline of 1.4%.

Producer prices in respect for goods destined for the euro area went down by 1.6%, while prices for goods destined for the non-euro area remained stable.

On an annual basis, the producer price index declined by 2.5%,, from 95.9 to 93.6 points.

During this period, producer prices for intermediate goods fell by 5.2%.

Partly offsetting this drop were increases of 0.1% and 1.6% in the capital and consumer goods respectively. No price changes were registered for energy prices, the NSO said.

Producer prices for the domestic market edged up by 0.8%, on account of price rises in intermediate and consumer goods by 5.6% and 1.3% respectively.

The period under review revealed that producer prices for goods destined for the non-domestic market decreased by 4.8% on account of a drop in prices in the euro area by 5.5%.

Mitigating this decline was a slight increase in prices for goods destined for the non- euro area by 0.8%.