Wholesale prices up 1.6% in June
Factory-gate prices increased by 1.6% in June 2005, according to the Central Statistics Office. This compares to a decrease of 0.3% recorded for June of last year.
As a result, the annual percentage change showed a decrease of 0.3% in June 2005, which compares to a decrease of 2.2% in May 2005.
In the month, the index for export sales increased by 1.9% and the index for home sales increased by 0.2%.
In the year there was a decrease in export sales of 0.6% and an increase in home sales of 0.8%.
In the month the most significant changes were increases in basic chemicals (+2.3%), office machinery and computers (+2.3%) and other food products (+2.9%).
Contributing to the annual change was a decrease in office machinery and computers (-11.0%), while there were increases in other food products (+12.4%) and pharmaceuticals and other chemical products (including man-made fibres) (+10.1%).
The yearly price index for mining and quarrying increased by 11.2% and there was a monthly increase of 2.0%.
Breaking down wholesale price changes by sector of use shows that building and construction all material prices increased by 4.4% in the year since June 2004.
The most notable yearly changes were increases in bituminous emulsions (+10.9%) and stone, sand and gravel (+9.0%).
Building and construction all material prices increased by 0.2% in the month.
Year-on-year, the price of capital goods increased by 3.5%, whilethere was a monthly price increase of 0.2%.
The price of energy products increased by 14.1% in the year since June 2004, while petroleum fuels increased by 15.5%.
In June 2005, there was a monthly increase in energy products of 0.8% and an increase in petroleum fuels of 3.2%.
