The FINANCIAL — In January 2018 the Producer Price Index (PPI) for Industrial Products increased by 1.6 percent over December 2017, while the index increased by 8.0 percent compared to January 2017.
In January prices for electrical energy, gas, steam and hot water were up by 14.3 percent compared to the previous month, which resulted in a 1.83 percentage point contribution to the overall monthly PPI change, according to GeoStat.
Prices for products from mining and quarrying increased by 1.6 percent, contributing 0.11 percentage points to the overall monthly PPI change.
Prices for manufactured products were down by 0.5 percent, which resulted in a -0.37 percentage point contribution to the overall monthly PPI change. Prices decreased mainly for food products, beverages and tobacco (-0.7 percent).
The annual PPI rate was mainly affected by price changes for the following products:
• Manufactured products: prices grew by 6.9 percent, contributing 5.59 percentage points to the overall annual index growth. Prices were up mainly for food products, beverages and tobacco (6.7 percent), also for basic metals and fabricated metal products (12.3 percent);
• Electrical energy, gas, steam and hot water: prices increased by 14.0 percent and contributed 1.91 percentage points to the overall PPI change;
• Products from mining and quarrying: prices were 9.4 percent higher, with the relevant contribution of 0.48 percentage points to the overall annual PPI growth.