Producer price index, 15 August 2004

Prices within oil and gas extraction have increased by 9.4 per cent from July to August. According to figures from the London Spot Market prices of crude oil (Brent Blend measured in NOK) rose by 11.3 per cent in this period. This development is partly due to the uncertainty related to oil production in Russia and Iraq.

Manufacturing prices went up by 0.3 per cent from July to August. Wood processing and printing, refined petroleum products and food products are the main driving forces behind this increase. The increase was partly offset by a 2.1 drop in prices of non-ferrous metals. According to the London Metal Exchange, prices of nickel and aluminium fell by 9.0 and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Figures from Nordpool show that electricity spot prices rose by 14 per cent from July to August, reaching the highest level since November 2003.

Among the main industrial groupings, prices of energy goods increased by 8.1 per cent and consumer goods went up by 0.2 per cent.

12-month rate: 7.4 increase in manufacturing prices

Manufacturing prices increased by 7.4 per cent compared with August last year, largely due to higher prices of refined petroleum products, chemicals and metals.

The 12-month rate of the total index was 16.4 per cent. Prices of crude oil (Brent Blend measured in NOK) went up by 36 per cent, while electricity prices went down by 0.7 per cent. According to the main industrial groupings prices of energy goods increased by 25.8 per cent and consumer goods by 2.0 per cent.

New figures for July

Due to an error in the production of the July figures, revised indices are released now. The changes will only occur for indices including both the domestic market and the export market, as only the export prices have been updated. Most groups show changes. The revised total index shows a 4.6 per cent rise from June to July, against 4.3 per cent in the previous release. The largest adjustment is for chemicals and chemical products. New figures for this industry show a 1.5 per cent increase in prices from June to July, against a 4.4 per cent decline in the previous release.

Commodity price index for industrial sectors

As announced previously the articles for the producer price index and the commodity price index for industrial sectors have now become one article. The website for both surveys will remain the same for the time being - www.ssb.no/ppi_en and www.ssb.no/vppi_en.

The monthly changes in the producer price index and the commodity price index may show minor deviations due to different index levels and rounding. No extra information is added to the commodity price index.