Producer price index, 15 November 2005

Prices of oil and gas extraction went down by 3.4 per cent from October to November - as we have witnessed in the two previous months. The prices of refined petroleum products have also decreased two months in a row. The decline this month was amounted to 9.8 per cent. According to the London Spot market (LSM) the prices of unleaded petrol fell by 12.4 per cent, while fuel oil decreased by 12.0 per cent in this period. Prices increased in some other main industries - among them basic metals that went up by 1.7 per cent. As in October, non-ferrous metals increased - this time by 2.3 per cent. Prices of electricity decreased by 2.7 per cent.

Among the main industrial groupings intermediate goods increased by 0.5 per cent, while consumer goods had an increase of 0.3 per cent.

12-month rate, November 2004 to November 2005: Producer prices increase 17.9 per cent

The prices within oil and gas extraction increased by 32.3 per cent and were the largest contributor to the general price increase during the last 12 months. Manufacturing, mining and quarrying have increased by 6.8 per cent. Among the main manufacturing industries the 12-month rate of refined petroleum products has increased by 38.2 per cent, while the prices of food products have increased by 4.6 per cent. The largest declines occurred in prices of electrical and optical equipment, which declined by 5.4 per cent. Wood processing and printing fell by 2.2 per cent during the period. Electricity, gas and steam supply decreased by 6.8 per cent from November 2004 to November 2005.

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.