Statistics in Focus. Producer price increases for intermediate goods continue to gather pace Extract from Monthly Panorama of European Business.

Abstract

The producer price index for intermediate goods in the EL) grew by 7.5% in January 2000 (when compared to data for the same month of a year before). The rate of change in January 2000 for the euro­zone was 8.2%. These growth rates were considerably higher than those recorded by the other main industrial groupings and could be largely attributed to the increase in the price of oil. Looking at the evolution of producer prices for the other industrial groupings between January 1999 and January 2000, the following growth rates were recorded in the EU (euro­zone figures in brackets): capital goods 0.3% (0.3%), consumer durables 0.1% (0.6%) and consumer nondurables 0.7% (0.6%) ­ the latter two figures are for December 1999.