17 January 1997
Import prices up one-and-a half per cent 1996
Comparison of the year-on-year averages reveals that import prices rose one-and-a-half per cent from 1995 to 1996. This as the result of the upward trend in the prices of crude oil, vehicles, machinery and equipment, and oil products. A year before prices had fallen 0.1 per cent. This information can be gathered from the Import Price Index of Statistics Finland.
Export prices rose 0.8 per cent from 1995 to 1996, as against seven per cent the previous year. The rise was curbed by the falling prices of chemical pulp, paper and paperboard, and metallic ores.
In 1996 export prices of chemical pulp were 33 per cent down on the average for the previous year, compared with a rise of 46 per cent in 1995. The drop in prices was the biggest for 20 years. Prices of paper and paperboard rose a good six per cent, as against 18 per cent the previous year. Those of metallic ores went up ten per cent in 1995 but were in 1996 six per cent down on the previous year.
The export prices of chemical pulp fell 40 per cent during the year to December 1996, those of metallic ores close on 16 and those of paper and paperboard eight per cent. The overall drop in export prices was five per cent.
From November to December export prices fell 0.9 per cent, the drop being attributable to the lower prices obtained for fur pelts, wood products, paper and paperboard. Import prices in December were on a par with those of November.
Wholesale prices rose 0.6 per cent between 1995 and 1996; those of domestic goods 0.4 per cent and those of imported goods one per cent.
The HWWA index, which measures the dollar
prices of raw materials on the world market, rose 6.5 per cent in
1995-1996. The prices of energy raw materials rose a good 15 per
cent, while those of other raw materials fell. The HWWA index rose
2.3 per cent from November to December.
Year-on-year changes in the export prices of chemical
pulp,
paper and paperboard 1976-1996
Source: Producer Price Indices, December 1996
For further information please contact Jarmo Ranki, tel. +358 9
1734 3472 or
Anne Forss, tel. +358 9 1734 3469