Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported that producer prices fell 1.6% in March, as expected, after rising 0.2% in February. This was the first drop in 6 months and the sharpest since May 2023.
In annual terms, producer prices rose by 1.9%, slowing compared to February (+3%, the highest inflation rate since March 2023), and recording the 4th consecutive increase. Consensus estimates suggested a 2.0% increase. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, producer prices fell by 1.6% compared to February and rose by 2.1% per year.
The data showed that on a monthly basis, producer prices in the eurozone remained stable for intermediate goods, decreased by 5.8% for energy and increased for capital goods (+0.1%), durable consumer goods (+0.2%) and for non-durable consumer goods (+0.5%). Excluding energy, producer prices increased by 0.1%.
Among the EU countries, producer prices remained stable for capital goods and decreased by 5.5% for energy. Price increases were recorded for intermediate goods (+0.1%), durable consumer goods (+0.1%) and for non-durable consumer goods (+0.5%). Producer prices excluding energy increased by 0.2%.
Eurostat said that the largest monthly decreases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Estonia (-8.0%), Spain (-3.9%) and Italy (-3.3%). The highest increases were observed in Greece (+1.3%), Luxembourg (+0.9%) and Slovenia (+0.6%).