18 January, 2000
Inquiries: Mr Eero Koljonen +358 9 1734 3472, Ms
Sonja Karell +358 9 1734 3469
Director in charge: Mr Jarmo Hyrkkö
Import prices up by good 11 per cent in the year
According to Statistics Finland, import prices rose by 11.4 per cent in the year to December 1999. This was particularly due to increases in the world market price of crude oil, but also to higher prices of oil products and colour metals. Measured as the annual average, import prices rose by 0.6 per cent from 1998 to 1999, whereas a year earlier they still went down by 3.5 per cent.
Export prices fell by 4.4 per cent from 1998 to 1999, and by 1.1 per cent a year earlier. The prices of electrical goods decreased most. Prices started to rise towards the end of the year. Export prices went up by 0.8 per cent from November to December and by 1.7 per cent in the year to December 1999.
Producer prices for manufactured goods, or producer prices for goods intended for the domestic market, went down by 1.1 from 1998 to 1999. However, from November to December 1999 producer prices went up by 1.0 per cent and in the year to December 1999 they rose by 4.6 per cent. The prices of oil products and colour metals increased most.
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Producer price indices 1995=100 and their monthly and annual changes in December 1999 and year-on-year changes 1998 - 1999 and 1997 - 1998, % |
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Indices |
Point figure |
Change, % |
Change, % |
Change, % |
Change, % |
|
Producer price index for manufactured goods |
100.9 |
+1.0 |
+4.6 |
-1.1 |
-1.4 |
|
Export price index |
95.2 |
+0.8 |
+1.7 |
-4.4 |
-1.1 |
|
Import price index |
104.1 |
+1.6 |
+11.4 |
+0.6 |
-3.5 |
|
Basic price index for domestic supply |
102.8 |
+1.1 |
+5.8 |
-0.2 |
-1.4 |
|
Wholesale price index |
103.0 |
+1.1 |
+5.5 |
-0.2 |
-1.3 |
Producer price indices measure the development of commodity prices from enterprises' viewpoint. The basic price index for domestic supply measures the price development of goods used in Finland as they enter the market, i.e. purchase prices exclusive of tax. The wholesale price index measures 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, rose by 11.8 per cent from 1998 to 1999 due to higher price of crude oil. Exclusive of the effect of the energy group the HWWA index would have fallen by 7.7 per cent. The prices of raw materials went down for both the food and manufacturing industries.
Source: Producer Price Indices 1999, December. Statistics Finland