Industrial prices in the A.C. of the Basque Country increased 0.4% in September 2002 according to EUSTAT data. The increase over the first nine months of the year was 2.1% with regard to 2001. Despite the increase over the first months of the year, the inter-annual rate for September, which shows the variation in industrial prices for the last twelve months, came to 0.6%.

A sectorial analysis shows that the sectors that increased their prices most in September with regard to the previous month were "Oil refining" (4.5%), "Rubber and plastic" (0.6%) and "Paper, publishing and graphic arts" (0.5%). On the other hand, the most significant monthly decreases in prices corresponded to the sectors: "Food industry" (-0.8%), "Leather and footwear industry" (-0.6%), "Metal and non-metal minerals" (-0.4%), "Non-metal industry" (-0.3%) and "Electric energy, gas and water" (-0.3%).

In the period from September 2001 to September 2002 the highest price increases corresponded to the sectors of "Textiles and clothing" (3.9%), "Metal and non-metal minerals" (3.0%), "Other manufactured"(2.3%), "Food industry" (2.2%) and
"Non-metal industry" (2.2%). However, negative inter-annual rates were registered for the prices of "Electrical energy, gas and water" (-3.1%), "Oil refining" (-1.4%) and "Timber industry" (-0.4%).

Following the classification of goods by economic destination, in September with regard to the previous month, Intermediate Goods registered a 0.8% increase in prices, while Consumer Goods and Capital Goods fell by 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

The inter-annual evolutions of these three groups of goods present, however, more significant differences; the prices of Intermediate Goods fell 0.2% in the inter-annual period (September 2002 with regard to September 2001) and Consumer Goods and Capital Goods prices increased by 2.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

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