Press Release 24/06/2020

INDUSTRIAL PRICE INDEX. MAY 2020

Industrial prices of the Basque Country fell by 0.8% in May 2020 in respect of the previous month

Compared to May 2019 industrial prices were down 5.4%

Industrial prices in the Basque Country were down 0.8% in May 2020 in respect of the previous month, according to EUSTAT data. The year-on-year rate for May, which indicates the fluctuation in industrial prices over the last twelve months, stood at -5.4%.

A more detailed analysis reveals that, in May 2020, the most inflationary branches on the previous month were: Coke plants and Oil Refining with an increase of 1.3%, Textile, Garments, Leather & Footwear, which registered a rise of 1.0% and Chemical Industry and Water, up 0.9% in both cases. On the other hand, the following sectors recorded the largest month-on-month decreases in prices: Electricity, Gas & Steam with a decrease of 4.3%, Computer, Electronic & Optical Products, down 2.5% and Metallurgy & Metal Products, which fell by 0.9%.

Following the classification of Goods by economic destination, prices of Consumer Goods, as a whole, rose by 0.1% compared to the previous month. Among the latter, both Consumer Durables and Consumer Non-durables experienced a rise of 0.1%. In contrast, Energy fell by 2.2%; Capital Goods were down 0.7% and Intermediate Goods decreased by 0.3%.

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In year-on-year terms, May 2020 on May 2019, the greatest increases in prices occurred within the branches of Textile, Garments, Leather & Footwear with a rise of 12.1%, Extraction Industries with growth of 5.7% and Water, up 3.1%. Conversely, the greatest decreases in prices corresponded to the sectors of Coke Plants and Oil Refining, which fell by 37.1%; Electricity, Gas, Steam & Air Conditioning, which dropped by 6.6%; and Timber, Paper & Graphic Arts, down 3.8%.

The price variation of the large goods groups by economic destination was positive over the year-on-year period for Capital Goods, which increased by 0.4%, and for Consumer Goods as a whole, which registered a rise of 1.2%. Among the latter, the prices of Consumer Non-Durables rose by 1.3%, and Consumer Durables were up by 0.8%. By contrast, decreases in prices were seen in the sectors of Energy, down 24.2%, and Intermediate Goods, with a fall of 1.1%.

NOTE ON THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS ON THE MAY INDUSTRIAL PRICE INDEX

Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declared a state of alarm in order to manage the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

The exceptional measures adopted from this point onwards brought the majority of industrial companies to a partial or total standstill during May.

Due to this situation, obtaining the necessary information for compiling the Industrial Price Index required a greater degree of effort, by both the companies surveyed and the personnel dedicated to collecting and processing the information.

Eustat would like to thank all the companies that have collaborated in making this effort despite the extraordinary circumstances. As a result, the May index was calculated with 98.63% coverage of the sample - whose information was collected during June.

For further information:

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