Producer price index, 15 April 2003

Prices of refined petroleum products dropped 16 per cent from March to April. In this period figures from London Spot Markets (LSM) show that prices of unleaded gasoline went down 10 per cent, while heavy fuel oil declined 13 per cent (measured in NOK). Food products and fabricated metal products also showed a decline compared with March. The fall in manufacturing prices was somewhat counteracted by higher prices of chemicals as well as of rubber and plastic products.

According to the main industrial groupings - prices of energy goods went down about 15 per cent, while consumer goods went up 0.2 per cent.

The Producer Price Index went down 7.8 per cent from March to April. Prices in the groups electricity, gas and steam supply - and oil and gas extraction both dropped approximately 15 per cent in this period. According to figures from LSM prices of crude oil (Brent Blend measured in NOK) decreased about 19.5 per cent.

The 12-month rate: April 2002 to April 2003

Manufacturing prices went down 0.4 per cent compared with April 2002. The main reasons for this decline was a 2.4 per cent decline in food prices and a 6 per cent drop in prices of basic metals. Higher prices of chemicals and refined petroleum products counteracted the overall development to some degree. Lower prices of pulp, paper and paper products also contributed to the decline in manufacturing prices

According to the main industrial groupings - energy goods dropped 9.2 per cent while consumer goods went down 1.4 per cent.

Commodity price index for the industrial sectors

From here on the articles for the Producer price index and the Commodity price index for the industrial sectors will be coordinated. The web pages for both surveys will remain the same for the time being - www.ssb.no/ppi_en and www.ssb.no/vppi_en. The commodity price index covers the same population as the producer price index, but allows for revision of published figures. In this way - access to new price information or new methods can be included in the historical figures of the commodity price index. Thus only the producer price index is suitable for use in contracts. For additional information about the surveys, see "about the statistics" on the web pages of the two surveys.

Future articles will include a chapter covering new data added and differences in the recent development of the surveys. This will be done in a text at the bottom of the articles. In cases were no new information added and no differences exist in recent figures from the surveys, this chapter will only include a standard text.

Wood processing and printing

Printing will from now on be included in the group pulp, paper and paper products. The name of the new group will be wood processing and printing. The reason for the merging is to be able to publish the entire population and at the same time ensure the quality of the series.