Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported that producer prices fell by 0.6% in September after increasing by 0.6% in August. Economists also expected a 0.6% decline. It was the first drop in 4 months and the sharpest since April. In annual terms, producer prices fell by 3.4%, accelerating compared to September (-2.3%). It was the 16th price drop in a row. Consensus estimates suggested a 3.5% drop. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, producer prices fell by 0.6% compared to August and by 3.3% per annum.
The data showed that on a monthly basis, producer prices in the eurozone decreased for energy (-1.9%) and capital goods (-0.1%), remained stable for intermediate goods, but increased for durable consumer goods (+0.2%) and non-durable consumer goods (+0.2%). Excluding energy, producer prices remained unchanged.
Among the EU countries, producer prices decreased for intermediate goods (-0.1%) and energy (-1.8%). remained stable for capital goods, but increased for durable consumer goods (+0.1%) and non-durable consumer goods (+0.2%). Producer prices excluding energy remained stable.
Eurostat said that the largest monthly decreases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Estonia (-3.6%), Spain (-2.4%) and Romania (-2.2%). The highest increases were observed in Ireland (+4.8%), Finland (+1.0%) and Greece (+0.7%).