Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported that producer prices rose by 0.4% in October after declining by 0.6% in September. Economists also expected a 0.4% increase. This was the 4th price increase in the last 5 months. In annual terms, producer prices fell by 3.2%, slowing compared to September (-3.4%). It was the 17th price drop in a row. Consensus estimates suggested a 3.3% drop. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, producer prices rose by 0.4% compared to September and by 3.0% per annum.
The data showed that on a monthly basis, producer prices in the eurozone decreased for intermediate goods (-0.1%), remained stable for capital goods, but increased for energy (+1.4%), durable consumer goods (+0.3%) and non-durable consumer goods (+0.2%). Excluding energy, producer prices remained unchanged.
Among the EU countries, producer prices decreased for intermediate goods (-0.1%), remained stable for capital goods, but increased for energy (+1.1%), durable consumer goods (+0.3%) and non-durable consumer goods (+0.2%). Producer prices excluding energy remained stable.
Eurostat said that the highest monthly increases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Estonia and Italy (both +1.0%), France (+0.9%) and Sweden (+0.8%). The largest decreases were observed in Bulgaria (-2.9%), Slovakia (-2.0%) and Romania (-1.5%).