According to a report released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, in January this year in the
European Union member states (EU-27) industrial producer prices increased 0.7 percent as compared to December 2011 levels, while they rose by 4.4 percent as compared with January 2011.
In January 2012 compared with the previous month, prices in overall industry excluding the energy sector remained almost stable with an increase of just 0.3 percent in the EU-27, while prices in the energy sector rose by 2.1 percent. Meanwhile, in January 2012 in the EU-27, prices of intermediate goods rose by 0.4 percent, while prices of durable consumer goods and prices of capital goods increased respectively by 0.3 percent and by 0.2 percent, both compared to the previous month.
Among the member states for which data are available, the lowest month-on-month growth in the overall index were recorded in Slovenia (0 percent) and in Denmark and in the UK (both 0.3 percent). The largest increases were recorded in Greece (+2.8 percent) and in Latvia and in Portugal (both 2.3 percent).
In January 2012 as compared to January 2011, prices in overall industry excluding the energy sector increased by 2.3 percent year on year in the EU-27, while prices in the energy sector gained 9.5 percent, intermediate goods rose by two percent, durable consumer goods rose by 2.4 percent and capital goods gained 1.5 percent.
Among member states for which data are available, the largest year-on-year increases in the overall index were observed in Latvia (+10.3 percent), in Lithuania (+9.2 percent), and in Cyprus (+8.7 percent), and the smallest in Slovenia (+1.9 percent), in Slovakia (+2.5 percent) and in Malta (+2.6 percent), with a decrease recorded in Sweden (-0.6 percent).