Manufacturing prices fell by 1.1 percent from May to June. There was a mixed picture in June, where several industries had price decreases, while others had a general price increase.
Large variations in price developments within manufacturing
One of the industries with a price increase in June was the food industry (up 0.4 percent). The largest contribution came from processed products of fish, shellfish, and mollusks, which increased by 1.8 percent. Prices on fish products at the domestic market rose by 1.5 percent and export prices by 2.0 percent. The weakening of the Norwegian krone may have contributed to higher demand for Norwegian fish and therefore higher export prices. This has also affected the fish price in Norway as prices are set on the world market. The price development, where unprocessed fish products are included can be found in the Price index of first-hand domestic sales (ssb.no). In this index the product group Fish, crustaceans and mollusks showed a decrease of 2.8 percent on the domestic market.
One industry with rarely large price changes is repair and installation of machinery, but in June prices went up 0.9 percent.
Prices within refined petroleum products contributed the most to the overall decline in manufacturing prices in June, with a price drop of 8.1 percent.
From June 2022 to June 2023, prices within refined petroleum products have been reduced by nearly 30 percent. This price development is closely linked to the crude oil price. Despite the fact that the prices of crude oil and refined petroleum products are closely correlated, the petroleum products often have a small time-lag.
There was also a minor price drop in the basic metal industry as well as for fabricated metal products from May to June, but prices are still at a high level.
Higher prices within electricity, gas and steam and natural gas
Prices within In Norway, production and distribution of electricity are the principal parts of this group rose by 2.1 percent from May to June, but compared to June last year, prices are 8.8 percent lower.
The weekly reports by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (nve.no) refers to lower wind power production, little rainfall, and a weaker resource situation in Norway despite large snow-melting in June. There were also higher gas prices and more expensive electricity on the continent during June. All these factors contributed to higher electricity prices in June.
The price on natural gas rose slightly in June and contributed to a 1.0 percent rise in the price index for extraction of crude oil and natural gas. The price of crude oil eased slightly and fell for the second month in a row.
