According to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, in February this year industrial producer prices increased by 0.2 percent in the euro area and by 0.4 percent in the European Union member states (EU-27) month on month. Compared to February last year, prices had increased by 1.3 percent compared to the previous month in both zones. In January of the current year, industrial producer prices had gained 0.4 percent in the euro area and in the EU-27 compared to December 2012.
In February compared with the previous month, prices in overall industry excluding the energy sector increased by 0.1 percent in both zones, while prices in the energy sector rose by 0.4 percent in the euro area and by 1.3 percent in the EU-27. In February this year, prices of capital goods rose by 0.1 percent in the euro area and increased by 0.2 percent in the EU-27. The prices of intermediate goods remained stable, while prices of durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods increased by 0.1 percent in both zones.
Among the member states for which data are available, the highest increases were recorded in the United Kingdom (+2.0%), Greece (+1.7%), Hungary (+1.2%) and Ireland (+0.8%), while the largest decreases were recorded in Slovakia (-0.6%), Latvia (-0.3%) and Germany (-0.1%).
In February this year as compared to February 2012, prices in overall industry excluding the energy sector increased by 1.2 percent in both the euro area and the EU-27. Prices in the energy sector rose by 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. Non-durable consumer goods rose by 2.3 percent in the euro area and by 2.4 percent in the EU-27, while intermediate goods and durable consumer goods gained 0.7 percent in both zones. Capital goods increased by 0.8 in both zones in February this year compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
Among member states for which data are available, the largest year-on-year increases in the overall index were observed in Estonia (+9.7%), Romania (+6.5%), Belgium (+4.2%) and Cyprus (+2.8%), and the largest decreases were recorded in Sweden (-1.6%) and Austria (-0.5%).