Czech producer prices declined at a faster-than-expected pace in December, figures from the Czech Statistical Office showed Monday.
The producer price index fell 2.9 percent year-over-year in December, exceeding economists’ expectations for a 2.7 percent decrease. However, it was slower than the 3.7 percent drop in November.
The annual decline in December was largely caused by a 7.1 percent slump in prices of chemicals and chemical products, the agency said.
Among the main industrial groupings, energy prices dipped the most by 5.7 percent in December from a year ago.
In the whole year, total producer prices slipped 3.2 percent compared with a 0.8 percent fall in 2014.
On a monthly basis, producer prices slid 0.4 percent in December.
In a separate report, the statistical office announced that import prices declined at a stable pace of 3.7 percent annually in December.
Month-on-month, import prices showed no variations in December, following a 0.3 percent drop in the preceding month.
Export prices decreased 3.5 percent yearly in December and edged down 0.2 percent from a month earlier.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com