Big twelve-month change in total PPI

Europe began to see the effects of the corona pandemic in March 2020, according to new figures from the Producer price index. At the same time there was a sharp reduction in the oil prices. The following month, a wordwide shutdown was implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The shutdown in several countries, led among other things to a reduction in the demand for energy goods. This contributed to a sharp price drop in these important products and for the PPI this resulted in a unnaturally low price level in April 2020, and contributed to a twelve-month change of 22.5 per cent in April 2021. PPI minus energy goods, had a more modest twelve-month change, with a price increase of 0.9 per cent.

Extraction of crude oil and natural gas had a twelve-month change of 75.4 per cent, despite a 4.1 per cent reduction in prices from March to April this year. The change in prices from March was largely due to reduced prices on natural gas, but also crude oil fell slightly in April. The remaining energy industries also had large twelve-month price increases in April. For power supply, the twelve-month change was 57.8 per cent.

Large price increase on wood products

At the end of March, NRK wrote an article were insiders in the construction industry warned about a potentially large price growth within the wood industry. Lower production than normal and a Canadian bark beetle would increase the value of Scnadinavian wood and make it more valuable as an export. In the PPI, the wood industry had a 6.1 per cent price increase in April.