Producer prices continued to fall in October

According to Statistics Finland, all producer price indices went down both from September to October and in the year to October.

Import prices fell most in the year to October and were down by 7.2 per cent. Export prices went down by 4.5 per cent, while producer prices for manufactured goods, basic prices for domestic supply, and wholesales prices all fell by 3.2 or 3.3 per cent.

The fall in producer prices was mainly attributable to lower prices of energy products, raw materials and output commodities - such as crude oil, oil products, colour metals, pulp and chemicals - which are sensitive to world market price fluctuations. Lower prices of electrical products also contributed significantly to the fall in producer prices.

The HWWA Index, used to measure the dollar-based world market prices of raw materials, was down by 26 per cent compared to October 1997. The biggest reduction of 33 per cent occurred in the price of crude oil.

Apart from the lower world market prices of raw materials, the weakened US dollar also contributed to the fall in the producer price indices. In the year to October, the US dollar has weakened against the Finnish markka by 5.4 per cent.

Export prices fell by 1.3 per cent from September to October because of lower prices of base metals, paper and board, chemicals and pulp.

Import priceswent down by 1.1 per cent from September to October, due to lower prices of base metals, crude oil, electrical products and chemicals.

Producer prices for manufactured goods, or producer prices for goods intended for the domestic market, fell by 0.8 per cent, due to lower prices of pulp, base metals, foodstuffs and electricity.

Wholesale prices fell by 0.8 per cent from September to October. The wholesale prices of imported goods went down by 1.3 per cent and those of domestic goods by 0.6 per cent.

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Monthly and annual changes in producer price indices, October 1998, %
Indices	9/98 - 10/98	10/97 - 10/98
Producer price index for manufactured goods	-0.8	-3.3
Export price index	-1.3	-4.5
Import price index	-1.1	-7.2
Basic price index for domestic supply	-0.7	-3.3
Wholesale price index	-0.8	-3.2

Source: Producer Price Indices 1998, October. Statistics Finland.