There were price drops on all major groups of energy goods, with a total downturn of 14.8 percent. The combined index for extraction of crude oil and natural gas fell just short of 16 percent, with natural gas contributing the most to the fall.

– The index for extraction of crude oil and natural gas fell for the fifth month in a row, and is almost halved compared to December 2022, says Espen Kristiansen, section head for price statistics at Statistics Norway.

Prices on In Norway, production and distribution of electricity are the principal parts of this group. in PPI went down by 16.8 percent from April to May. A lot of sun in Europe and warmer weather in Norway have contributed to falling prices on electricity in May, according to the weekly reports by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (nve.no).

Figure 1. Price index for energy goods and total PPI, 2015=100.

¹ 13 figures in Figure 1. and 2 figures in Figure 2. were published with +/- 0.1 error. The error was corrected at 09:15.
Source: Producer price index, Statistics Norway

PPI excluding energy goods continues its rise

For producer prices with In PPI, the energy goods are made up by the indices for extraction of coal, crude oil and natural gas, manufacturing of refined coal and petroleum products and electricity, gas, and steam. taken out, prices continue to rise. These prices were 7 percent higher when one compare May 2023 to May 2022. This is historically a high increase, however lower than in the recent past. For example, from May 2021 to May 2022, the price growth for this group was at a positive 21.1 percent.  

Small price decrease in the food industry

Producer prices in the food industry went down 0.2 percent from April to May

In this group, the seafood industry contributed the most, with a price fall of 1.1 percent. This is the first time since November last year that the price index on seafood goes down. From May 2022 to May 2023 the increase was 11.5 percent – Not since December 2021 has the twelve-month change been lower for this group. For example, from April 2022 to April 2023 the increase in seafood prices was at 23.5 percent.

Producer prices on meat and meat products went up by 0.6 percent from April to May and dampened the downturn in prices in the food industry. 

Figure 2. Price index for food and seafood products, 2015=100.

¹ 13 figures in Figure 1. and 2 figures in Figure 2. were published with +/- 0.1 error. The error was corrected at 09:15.
Source: Producer price index, Statistics Norway