Producer price index, 15 October 2004

The hurricane Ivan's devastations in The Gulf of Mexico caused a decrease in the American production of crude oil. Together with fear of strike in the Nigerian oil industry the hurricane contributed to an increase of 10.6 per cent in the price of crude oil from September to October.

Manufacturing prices increased by 1.5 per cent. The largest contribution came from prices of refined petroleum products, which went up by 8.8 per cent. According to figures from London Spot Markets (LME) prices of unleaded petroleum, gas oil and heavy fuel oil raised by 6.4, 16.4 and 4.5 per cent respectively. The prices of chemicals and metals increased by 1.3 and 1.1 per cent respectively.

Electricity prices continued to fall and went down 2.9 per cent this month. Among the main industrial groupings, prices of consumer goods increased by 0.1 per cent and of energy goods by 8.2 per cent. Prices of intermediate goods went up by 0.8 per cent.

12-month rate, 9.1 per cent growth in manufacturing prices

Compared to October last year the prices have risen for all industries. Manufacturing prices increased by 9.1 per cent and the most important contributors were the prices of refined petroleum products and metals. These have increased by 33.3 and 23.9 per cent respectively. According to figures from London Spot Markets (LME) prices of unleaded petroleum were about 53 per cent higher than at the same month last year. Prices of food products increased by 2.1 per cent.

The overall 12-month rate showed that prices have increased by 24.1 per cent, mainly due to the considerably increase in crude oil prices. Crude oil (Brent Blend) was about 47 per cent higher than in the same month last year, while electricity prices were about 13 per cent lower.

According to the main industrial groupings - energy goods increased by 40.8 per cent compared with figures for October 2003, while intermediate goods increased by 9.3 per cent.

Commodity price index for industrial sectors

As announced previously the articles for the Producer price index and the Commodity price index for the industrial sectors are now coordinated. The web pages for both surveys will remain the same for the time being - www.ssb.no/ppi_en and www.ssb.no/vppi_en.

The monthly changes of the producer price index and the commodity price index may show minor deviations due to different index levels and rounding. No extra information is added to the commodity price index.