Producer price index, 15 February 2001

The total index rose by 5.5 per cent. In addition to the increase in manufacturing, mining and quarrying higher prices of energy products also contributed.

The price development from January to February

Most of the groups have shown increasing prices in this period. The largest increase in manufacturing, mining and quarrying came in the group refined petroleum products, where prices went up by 4.4 per cent. There was also an increase of 0.9 per cent in the group food products, beverages, and tobacco. In addition, the prices of pulp, paper and paper products rose by 3.7 per cent. The largest decrease came in the group fabricated metal products, with a decline of 0.7 per cent. In the other groups there were only minor changes.

In the group oil and gas extraction the prices have increased by 8.3 per cent from January to February. This was mainly due to an increase in the price of crude oil. Electricity, gas and steam supply showed an increase amounting to 15.4 per cent.

Looking at the main industrial groupings, we see that energy goods have had the largest price increase, with 8.4 per cent from January to February. The prices of durable consumer goods rose by 1.5 per cent, while the prices of intermediate goods increased by 0.7 per cent.

12-month rate

The 12-month increase (February 2000 - February 2001) in manufacturing, mining and quarrying was 4.4 per cent. Here, the group food products, beverages, tobacco had an increase of 3.1 per cent. For refined petroleum products the corresponding figure is 14.6 per cent.

For electricity, gas and steam supply the 12-month rate was as much as 50.0 per cent. Large increases in domestic prices as well as export prices contributed. Furthermore the 12-month rate are highly influenced by the low price level during February last year. Oil and gas extraction had a 12-month increase of 1.6 per cent while the total index showed an increase of 3.8 per cent.

The development in the 12-month rate

The 12-month increase in manufacturing, mining and quarrying went down from 4.9 in January to 4.4 per cent in February. The largest decrease came in the groups basic metals, and fabricated metal products, while the groups food products, beverages, tobacco, and refined petroleum products showed an increase.

There was an equivalent development in the group oil and gas extraction, where the 12-month rate went down from 2.8 to 1.6 per cent. Despite of this, the 12-month rate of the total index went up from 3.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent. This was caused by the steep rise in the electricity prices - from 7.8 to 50.0 per cent.