Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported that producer prices fell by 0.4% in March, as expected, after declining by 1.1% in February (revised from -1%). In annual terms, producer prices fell by 7.8%, slowing compared to March (-8.5%, revised from -8.3%). Consensus estimates suggested a 7.7% drop. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, producer prices decreased by 0.5% compared to February and by 7.6% per annum.
The data showed that on a monthly basis, producer prices in the eurozone rose for non-durable consumer goods (+0.4%), intermediate goods (+0.1%), capital goods (+0.1%) and durable consumer goods (+0.1%). A decrease in prices was recorded only for energy (-1.8%). Meanwhile, excluding energy, producer prices rose by 0.2%.
Among the EU countries, producer prices rose for non-durable consumer goods (+0.4%), intermediate goods (+0.2%), durable consumer goods (+0.2%) and capital goods (+0.1%). A decrease in prices was recorded only for energy (-2.0%). Producer prices excluding energy increased by 0.2%.
Eurostat said that the largest monthly decreases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Bulgaria (-3.4%), Denmark and Greece (both -2.3%) and Spain (-2.2%). Increases were observed in Ireland and Sweden (both +0.9%) as well as in Germany and Croatia (both +0.2%).