Press Release 26/06/2017

FOREIGN TRADE UNIT VALUE INDICES - IVU. I/2017

Export prices increased by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2017

In the case of imports, prices rose by 5.1%

During the first quarter of 2017 the prices of exports posted 0.5% growth compared with the previous quarter, according to Eustat data. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, there was also a increase in export prices of 2.3%.

Import prices were also up, not only compared with the fourth quarter of 2016 (5.1%), but also in year-on-year terms (13.0%).

Within exports, energy was responsible for total price variation, and not only compared with the previous quarter, but also in year-on-year terms. In other words, prices for energy exports increased by 7.3% compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, whereas prices for non-energy exports remained unchanged (0.0%). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, prices for energy exports rose by 13.9% and non-energy exports by 1.8%.

The price index for imports of energy products grew by 11.6% in its year-on-year rate, and that of non-energy products grew by 2.9%. In year-on-year terms, energy products saw price rises of 40.8%, and non-energy imports saw prices increase by 6.5%.

According to the classification by economic destination of goods, mention should be made both of the negative variations in the prices of both Consumer Goods, down 1.8% andIntermediate Goods, down 0.4%, whilst the prices of Intermediate Goods increased by 4.1% in terms of the export price index, all compared with the previous quarter. In year-on-year terms, the prices of all goods were up, to a greater extent for Intermediate Goods (3.1%), followed by Capital Goods (1.3%) and Consumer Goods (0.8%).

In relation to imports, it can be observed that the Capital Goods prices are down both in quarter-on-quarter terms (-1.2%) and year-on-year terms (-1.3%) and that the rest of the goods are up in both comparisons.

If the geographic areas to which exports are sent are taken into account, it can be seen that prices in relation to the fourth quarter of 2016 rose in all areas: OECD (0.6%), EU-28 (0.5%), Euro Zone (1.0%) and the Rest of the World (0.1%). Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, prices have only dropped in the Rest of the World, by a mere 0.1%.

In the case of imports in all areas prices were up fore both comparisions, amongst which those for the Rest of the World particularly stood out, with quarter-on-quarter growth of 8.0% and an even greater year-on-year growth of 34.6%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62