Industrial Product Producer Prices Increased by 2.5 Percent Year-on-Year

In May of this year, industrial product producer prices decreased by 1.4 percent on a monthly basis, while their year-on-year growth slowed to 2.5 percent, according to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

Thus, producer prices have increased year-on-year for the 27th consecutive month, but the trend of slowing down has continued. Specifically, annual producer price rates have been continuously rising since March 2021, with a significant increase of 24 percent in June last year, marking the highest growth rate since DZS began tracking this data in 2011.

Since July of last year, the annual growth rate of industrial product producer prices has been continuously slowing, amounting to 14 percent in January of this year, 12.7 percent in February, 9.3 percent in March, and 6.5 percent in April.

When comparing producer prices for industrial products across the industry as a whole, excluding energy, they remained stable in May compared to April, while being 4.9 percent higher compared to May 2022.

Producer prices for industrial products in the foreign market decreased by 1 percent in May compared to April, while they were 0.8 percent higher compared to May 2022.

In the domestic market, producer prices in May fell by 1.7 percent compared to the previous month, while they were 3.8 percent higher compared to May last year.

On an annual basis, according to the main industrial groupings, the highest increase in producer prices in the domestic market was recorded in non-durable consumer goods, which rose by 9.9 percent, followed by durable consumer goods at 7.7 percent, capital goods at 3.1 percent, and intermediate goods at 2.6 percent.

At the same time, energy prices fell by 2.1 percent.

On a monthly basis, in May of this year, compared to April, prices in non-durable consumer goods increased by 0.7 percent in the domestic market, while they fell in energy by 6.2 percent, in intermediate goods by 0.4 percent, and in capital goods by 0.1 percent. Prices in durable consumer goods remained stable.

According to the national classification of activities, in May of this year compared to the same month last year, producer prices increased the most in the supply of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning, by 20.3 percent.

Year-on-year, prices in water supply; wastewater removal, waste management, and environmental remediation activities (only section 36) also increased by 1.2 percent, as well as in the manufacturing industry by 0.9 percent.

At the same time, producer prices in mining and quarrying fell by 32.9 percent.

On a monthly basis, in May compared to April, producer prices in mining and quarrying increased by 0.1 percent, while they fell in the supply of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning by 2.9 percent and in the manufacturing industry by 1.2 percent. In water supply; wastewater removal, waste management, and environmental remediation activities (only section 36) remained at the same level.