Producer Price Index down for the third month in a row
Text Mark Taylor
Photo Patrick Robert Doyle / Unsplash
The Producer Price Index of industrial output, which expresses changes in the prices of industrial goods manufactured in Estonia for both the domestic market and for export, decreased by 0.4 per cent in March 2023 compared with the previous month. However, it increased by 7.9 per cent compared with March 2022.
“Compared with February, the Producer Price Index was most affected by falling prices in electricity production and in the manufacture of fuel oils, food products, and fabricated metal products. The index was also influenced by price increases in the manufacture of wood and wood products and in the manufacture of electronic products,” explained Eveli Šokman, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia.
Compared with March 2022, the index was primarily influenced by rising prices in the manufacture of food products, wood products, and building materials. Lower prices in the manufacture of fuel oils and in electricity production had the opposite effect on the index. The increase in producer prices was 9.3 per cent in manufacturing as a whole and 17.8 per cent in the manufacture of food products.
The Producer Price Index has fallen in each of the first three months of this year, mirroring the steady fall in inflation in Estonia, which has slowed from its peak at 25.2 per cent in July last year to 15.6 per cent in March 2023.
