Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported that producer prices rose by 0.6% in August after increasing by 0.7% in July (revised from +0.8%). Economists had expected growth of 0.3%. In annual terms, producer prices fell by 2.3%, accelerating compared to July (-2.2%, revised from -2.1%). It was the 15th price drop in a row. Consensus estimates suggested a 2.4% drop. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, producer prices rose by 0.4% compared to July and fell by 2.1% per annum.
The data showed that on a monthly basis, producer prices in the eurozone decreased for intermediate goods (-0.1%), increased for energy (+1.9%) and capital goods (+0.1%), and remained stable for durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods. Excluding energy, producer prices fell by 0.1%.
Among the EU countries, producer prices decreased for intermediate goods (-0.1%) and durable consumer goods (-0.1%), but increased for energy (+1.1%), capital goods (+0.2%) and non-durable consumer goods (+0.1%). Producer prices excluding energy remained stable.
Eurostat said that the highest monthly increases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Estonia (+2.2%), Greece (+1.7%) and Spain (+1.5%). The largest decreases were observed in Ireland (-3.8%), Lithuania (-1.7%) and Romania (-1.6%).