Industrial prices rose by 0.8% in the A.C. of the Basque Country in April 2008, according to EUSTAT data. With these data, the year-on-year rate for April, which indicates the fluctuation in industrial prices over the last twelve months, showed growth to be 5.4%

Percentage evolution of the Industrial Price Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

(*) Year-on-year growth April 2008

Source: EUSTAT

A more detailed sectorial analysis shows that the most inflationary branches in April 2008, compared to the previous month, included “Oil Refinery” (3.3%), “Metallurgy and Metallic Articles” (1.6%), “Non-metallic Industry” (0.8%) and “Other Manufacturers” (0.8%). By contrast, the sectors whose prices fell most were “Energy Electricity, Gas and Water” (-1.3%) and “Paper, Printing and Graphic Arts” (-0.7%) and “Textile and Garments” (-0.2%) and “Chemical Industry” (-0.1%).

During the year-on-year period April. 2008 on April 2007, the highest growth in prices was registered by the branches of “Oil By-products" (24.5%) “ Metal and Non-Metal Minerals" (16.4%), “Electricity, Gas and Water” (12.1%), “Other Manufacturers” (7.5%) and “Food Industry”(6.9%) . However, the lowest growth in prices was recorded in the following sectors: "Paper, Printing and Graphic Arts" (1.3%), “Metallurgy and Metallic Articles” (1.6%), “Transport Equipment” (1.6%), "Machinery" (2.2% ), “Timber Industry” (2.1% ) and “Textile and Garments” (2.1%).

Following the classification of Goods by economic destination, the prices in the large sectorial groups performed differently in April. Prices of Intermediary Goods rose by 1.1%, Energy by 1.3% and Capital Goods were up by 0.1%. Prices of Consumer Goods as a whole fell slights (-0.1%), as the result of the increase in Durable Consumer Goods (0.2%) and the fall in Non-Durable Consumer Goods (-0.2%).

The price evolution of these large groups of goods reveals differences over the year-on-year period. Energy prices increased by 18.8%, Capital Goods by 2.8%, Intermediate Goods were up 2.0% and Consumer Goods registered a 4.9% increase. Among the latter, the prices of Non-Durable Consumer Goods rose 5.9% while Durable Consumer Goods were up by 2.6%.

Source: EUSTAT