Manufacturer prices in European industry slightly fell in April on the previous month by 1.0% in the Eurozone (EZ16) and by 1.1% in the EU27. In March the changes on February had been -0.7 % and -0.5 % respectively. As compared to April 2008, prices fell by 4.6 % and 3.9 % respectively, according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).
Comparison with March 2009
Manufactuer prices in industry (without energy sector) fell by 0.4 % in the Eurozone and by 0.3 in the EU27. In the energy sector prices dropped by 3.0 % and 3.5 % respectively. Manufacturer prices of intermediate inputs fell by 0.6 % in both regions and for consumer durables by 0.1 % in both the Eurozone and the EU27. For capital goods prices fell by 0.2 % and 0.1 % respectively.
Manufacturer prices fell most in Malta (-11.1 %), the Netherlands (-2.5 %) and Germany (-1.4 %). Only in Ireland (+0.7 %), Greece (+0.3 %) and Finland (+0.1 %) there were slight increases while prices remained unchanged in Slovenia.
Comparison with April 2008
Manufacturer prices fell by 2.4 % in the Eurozone and by 1.3 % in the EU27 (without energy sector). For energy price drops amounted to 11.1 % and 7.2 % respectively. Manufacturer prices of intermediate inputs fell by 5.2 % and 3.9 % respectively and those of consumer goods by 1.8 % and 0.5 % respectively. For capital goods there were slight price increases of 1.2% and 1.8% respectively while manufacturer prices for consumer durables fell by 1.5 % and 2.2 % in the Eurozone and the EU27 respectively.
Major price drops were registered in the Netherlands (-10.4 %), Greece (-7.8 %), Denmark and France (-6.4 % each) while prices increased most in Malta (+22.6 %), Hungary and Rumania (+2.5 % each), Sweden (+1.0 %) as well as Slovenia (+0.2 %). 