Producer Prices in European and Croatian Industry Declined in December

Producer prices of industrial products in the eurozone and the EU fell in December, and Croatia followed this trend, according to Eurostat data.

In the eurozone, producer prices of industrial products fell by 0.8 percent in December compared to November, when they fell by 0.3 percent. In the EU, they decreased by 0.9 percent compared to the previous month, when they also fell by 0.3 percent.

The largest decrease in producer prices was recorded in the energy sector, down 2.3 percent in the eurozone and 2.4 percent in the EU. When excluding the energy sector, producer prices in the eurozone industrial sector slid by only 0.1 percent, while in the EU, the decline was 0.2 percent.

The Largest Decline in Ireland

The most pronounced decline in producer prices of industrial products on a monthly basis was recorded in December in Ireland, at 12 percent. This was followed by the Netherlands and Estonia, where prices decreased by 1.8 and 1.4 percent, respectively.

In Croatia, producer prices in December were down 0.6 percent compared to November, when they had slightly increased by 0.1 percent.

Conversely, products in Greece saw the highest increase, by 1.0 percent. This was followed by Belgium with a growth of 0.5 percent, and Cyprus and Luxembourg, where prices rose by 0.3 percent each.

Still Double-Digit Decline Year-on-Year

On a year-on-year basis, producer prices of industrial products in December fell by 10.6 percent in the eurozone and by 10 percent in the EU. In November, they decreased by 3.2 and 2.1 percent, respectively.

The far largest decline on a year-on-year basis was recorded in December in the energy sector, down 27.5 percent in the eurozone and 25.6 percent in the EU. When excluding the energy sector, producer prices of industrial products fell in both areas for the third consecutive month, by 0.4 percent in the eurozone and by 0.6 percent in the EU.

In Ireland, the largest decline

The most significant year-on-year decline in December was recorded in Ireland, with producer prices of industrial products down 43.5 percent. This was followed by Italy and Bulgaria, with price declines of 20.5 and 19.8 percent, respectively.

Croatia, on the other hand, recorded an increase in producer prices of industrial products by 0.6 percent. In November, it recorded a decline of 1.4 percent.

The highest price increases were in Luxembourg, by 20.2 percent. This was followed by Slovakia and Slovenia, with increases of 13.3 and 2.0 percent, respectively.