Eurozone industrial producer prices down by 0.2% in May

• Source: Xinhua
• [10:06 July 03 2009]
• Comments

Industrial producer prices in the eurozone dropped in May by 0.2 percent, compared with the previous month, the European Union (EU)'s statistics bureau Eurostat said on Thursday.

Compared with May 2008, the index decreased by 5.8 percent.

In May, prices in total industry excluding the energy sector fell by 0.2 percent from April in the eurozone, while prices in the energy sector increased by 0.2 percent. Intermediate goods declined by 0.3 percent. Capital goods and non-durable consumer goods dropped by 0.2 percent and durable consumer goods by 0.1 percent.

In the 27-nation EU, industrial producer prices decreased by 0.4 percent month on month in May and dropped by 5.7 percent year on year.

Among the member states for which data were available, the largest monthly decrease in the total index was recorded in Slovakia, down by 1.2 percent, while the highest increase was observed in Greece, up by 1.0 percent. The index remained stable in Germany, the largest economy within the EU.