Export prices down by 6.2 per cent in the year to March

Export prices fell by 6.2 per cent in the year to March. This was due in particular to the fall in the prices of paper and paperboard as well as to cheaper base metals, furs and pulp. The prices of paper and paperboard are a good 15 per cent lower than in March of the year before. This information can be gathered from the Export Price Index of Statistics Finland.

Export prices also fell from February to March, down by 0.4 per cent. This was accounted for by cheaper paper and paperboard, pulp, and printed matter.

Import prices fell by 0.2 per cent from February to March, due to lower prices of crude oil, oil products, iron, steel, and ferro- alloys. In the year to March, in contrast, they rose by 0.6 per cent.

Wholesale prices rose by 0.2 per cent from February to March. The rise was attributable to more expensive agricultural products, non-ferrous metals, metallic ores, machinery and equipment as well as wood products. Wholesale prices have risen by 1.2 per cent over the year.

The HWWA index, which measures the dollar prices of raw materials on the world market, fell by 1.7 per cent from February to March. This was explained by the fall in the prices of energy raw materials as well as by cheaper raw materials from agriculture and forestry. In the year to March the HWWA index was up by 0.7 per cent.

Source: Producer Price Indices, March 1997
Further information: Jarmo Ranki, tel. +358 9 1734 3472, or
Anne Forss,
tel. +358 9 1734 3469