18 March 2002
Inquiries: Mr Jari Harjunpää +358 9 1734 3472, Ms
Christina Harjunpää +358 9 1734 3469
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Lehtinen
Export prices fell by 4.9 per cent from last year's February
According to Statistics Finland, export prices went down by 4.9 per cent from February 2001, primarily due to fallen prices of pulp, paper, paper products, oil products and base metals. The fall of the overall index was curbed by higher prices of agricultural products. From January to February, export prices went up by 0.3 per cent. Higher prices of base metals, wood and wood products put the overall index up by most.
Import prices went down by 4.7 per cent from last year's February as a result of fallen prices of energy products, and intermediate goods. From January to February, import prices rose by 0.1 per cent. The prices of oil products went up by most, 5.4 per cent, whereas those of iron, steel and ferro-alloy fell by 4.2 per cent.
Producer prices for manufactured products, that is, prices for goods intended for the domestic market, fell by 0.4 per cent from February 2001. The prices of oil products, pulp, paper and paper products went down by most. The fall was curbed by risen price of electricity. From January to February, producer prices for manufactured products went down by 0.2 per cent.
Month-on-month and year-on-year changes of Producer Price Indices in February 2002 (1995=100)
>
|
Indices |
Point figure |
Change, % |
Change, % |
|
Producer price index for manufactured products |
106.0 |
-0.2 |
-0.4 |
|
Export price index |
97.2 |
0.3 |
-4.9 |
|
Import price index |
103.7 |
0.1 |
-4.7 |
|
Basic price index for domestic supply |
106.2 |
0.0 |
-1.5 |
|
Wholesale price index |
106.5 |
-0.2 |
-1.4 |
Producer price indices measure the development of commodity prices from enterprises' viewpoint. The basic price index for domestic supply measures the development of prices exclusive of tax of goods used in Finland as they enter the market. The wholesale price index describes the change in the purchase prices of goods used in Finland inclusive of tax. Both these indices contain domestic and imported goods.
The HWWA Index, used to measure the dollar-based world market prices of raw materials, went down by 20.4 per cent from last year's February. The prices of raw materials for energy fell by most. Without energy products, the year-on-year change in the overall index amounted to -10.8 per cent.
Source: Producer Price Indices 2002, February. Statistics Finland