The prices Norwegian producers receive for their goods had an overall price increase from February to March of 2.7 per cent , according to figures from the producer price index (PPI). Higher Consists of Extraction of oil and natural gas, refined petroleum products as well as electricity, gas and steam. was the strongest contributor on the increase in the total PPI from last month.
– From about mid-2021 to mid-2022, prices for exported industrial goods rose far more than for goods sold in the Norwegian market, but from around mid-2023 and until March this year, the price developments have been more similar for the two markets, says Espen Kristiansen, section head at Statistics Norway.
The overall manufacturing prices rose by 0.6 per cent in March, where prices of manufactured goods sold in the Norwegian market increased by 0.2 per cent and export prices increased by 1.2 per cent.
The industries with the strongest impact on the total price increase were food products, refined petroleum products, basic metals as well as fabricated metal products.
Higher prices on food products and metals
Since 2021, prices in the food industry have risen sharply. From January 2021 to March 2024, prices increased by nearly 42 per cent. The increase was largest in the export market, where prices rose by almost 59 per cent in the same period. In the period January 2022 to June 2023, we saw twelve-month rates for the total food industry as high as 10-20 per cent. In March this year on the other hand the twelve-month rate was 3.4 per cent.
A slight increase in food prices from February to March is mainly due to rising fish prices in the export market. Fish sold to the Norwegian market had a slight price decrease in March, while Norwegian fish exporters had an average price increase of 2 per cent.
According to the latest report from the Norwegian Seafood Council (seafood.no) the higher export prices coincide with a reduction in catch quotas for wild fish in the first quarter, which resulted in lower export volumes.
In addition, prices increased for both basic and fabricated metal products in March. While prices on basic metals have had a declining trend since around mid-2022, prices of fabricated metal goods have continued to rise. This was the fourth consecutive month of price increases. In fabricated metal products, there has been a sharp and almost uninterrupted price increase since around mid-2021, with the largest rise in prices from 2022 to mid-2023.
New price rise on energy goods in March
Prices on energy goods rose by 5 per cent in March.
The price index for extraction of oil and natural gas peaked in August 2022, when gas price was record high. Since then, prices have fluctuated a little more, but the trend has been clearly negative. In the last four months there was a continuous price fall, followed by a new price increase of 4.7 per cent in March. The price on both oil and natural gas rose last month. Despite the price increase in March, the index for extraction of oil and natural gas was still almost 16 per cent lower than in the same month last year.
Prices within In Norway, production and distribution of electricity are the principal parts of this group. , prices went up in March by 8,3 per cent, but they are still about 13 per cent below March last year.
Within energy goods we also have refined petroleum products. Here, too, prices rose in March after four consecutive months of falling prices.
