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17 May 2002

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Import prices rose by 1.4 per cent in April

According to Statistics Finland, import prices went up by 1.4 per cent from March to April. The rise was especially attributable to higher prices of crude oil but prices of oil products and base metals also rose. From last year's April import prices fell by 3.4 per cent. The fall was mainly due to lower prices of crude oil, chemicals and chemical products.

Export prices rose by 0.1 per cent from March to April. The rise was primarily due to higher prices of oil products and base metals. From April 2001 export prices fell by 4.7 per cent. The fall was especially caused by lower prices of pulp, paper, paper products and oil products, but prices of electrical products also declined.

Prices exclusive of tax of goods used in Finland, i.e. the basic price index for domestic supply rose by 0.4 per cent from March to April. This was particularly due to the 11 per cent rise in prices of energy minerals and to the 8 per cent increase in prices of oil products. From last year's April prices exclusive of tax of goods used in Finland went down by 1.2 per cent. The fall was mainly attributable to lower prices of pulp, paper and paper products, chemicals and chemical products.

Month-on-month and year-on-year changes of Producer Price Indices in April 2002 (1995=100)

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Indices	Point figure 4/2002	Change, % 3/2002 - 4/2002	Change, % 4/2001 - 4/2002
Producer price index for manufactured products	106.3	0.0	-0.6
Export price index	97.5	0.1	-4.7
Import price index	105.3	1.4	-3.4
Basic price index for domestic supply	106.8	0.4	-1.2
Wholesale price index	107.1	0.3	-1.0

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.

Source: Producer Price Indices 2002, April. Statistics Finland