Clothing cheaper than last year

Norway's consumer price index rose 0.3 per cent from September to October, largely because of higher prices for clothing and shoes after the summer sales, and price increases for gasoline, electricity, fuel oil and kerosene. Prices rose 2.1 per cent from October last year to October this year, against 2.3 per cent in September. The index figure for October was 271.6.

The price index for clothing rose 2.3 per cent from September to October 1997, following the conclusion of summer sales. The price increase included a broad spectrum of products. Although the upturn in October was somewhat stronger than in many years, prices dropped by nearly four per cent compared to October 1995.

The articles of clothing that have fallen the most in price during this period are coats, shirts, dresses, blouses and some leisure wear items. Product groups such as tights, socks and underwear have not shown the same price trend during the two-year period. Strong competition between the large clothing chains and a pronounced increase in imported clothes from countries with low wage costs are factors explaining the fall in clothing prices over the past two years.

International numbers

The harmonized consumer price indices for the European Economic Area show an increase from August to September of all countries except for Germany, Austria and Portugal. Greece and Sweden had the highest growth, with 1.7 and 1.3 per cent respectively. Price inflation in Sweden is due mainly to increased taxes on cigarettes and a normal seasonal increase for clothing and shoes. The figures for Denmark also show higher prices for clothing and shoes from August to September, after the summer sales. The Norwegian harmonized index increased by 0.4 per cent from August to September, while the increase for the entire EEA was 0.2 per cent.

The Norwegian harmonized consumer price index for October was 102.9, an increase of 0.3 per cent from September this year and 1.9 per cent from October last year.

New Statistics

Consumer price index at 15 October 1997.
Statistics are published every month in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Randi Johannessen, tel. +47 21 09 47 30, e-mail: raj@ssb.no, Geir Ormseth, tel. +47 21 09 47 22, e-mail: geo@sssb.no or Lasse Sandberg, tel. +47 21 09 47 16, e-mail: san@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 46, 1997