Industrial export prices fell 2% in February and import prices fell 4.1%

MADRID, 27 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Export Price Index of industrial products registered an interannual decrease of 2% last February, a rate that extends the decline in January by 1.5 points and is its largest drop since August 2023, as reported this Wednesday the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the fall in February 2024, motivated by lower energy prices, the export prices of industrial products have chained eleven consecutive months of declines after going negative in April 2023 after 27 months of year-on-year increases.

According to Statistics, the sector that contributed most to the year-on-year decline in industrial export prices was energy, which cut its annual rate by 17 points in February, to -27.7%, due to the lower prices of production, transportation and distribution of electrical energy. On the contrary, oil refining prices rose in February.

For its part, capital goods presented an annual rate of 2.8%, five tenths lower than that of January, due to the drop in prices for the manufacture of motor vehicles.

Excluding energy, the annual rate of the general export price index decreased three tenths in February, to -0.1%, standing 1.9 points above the rate of the general index.

IMPORT PRICES MODERATE THEIR FALL TO 4.1%

Regarding the import prices of industrial products, these decreased by 4.1% year-on-year in the second month of the year, moderating by 2.2 points the decrease experienced the previous month.

With the decrease in February, import prices have had twelve consecutive months of negative interannual rates.

By sector, energy increased its interannual rate by 9.4 points, to -13.8%, due to the increase in the prices of crude oil and natural gas extraction and coke plants and oil refining.

For their part, intermediate goods increased their interannual rate six tenths, to -5.8%, due to higher prices in the chemical industry.

The only sector with a negative influence on import prices was capital goods, which reduced its interannual rate by five tenths, to 1.7%, due to the lower cost of manufacturing motor vehicles.

Excluding energy, the prices of imports of industrial products registered a decline of 2% in February, a rate one tenth higher than that of January and 2.1 points above the general rate.

MONTHLY DECLINE IN EXPORT PRICES AND INCREASE IN IMPORTS

In monthly terms (February over January), the prices of exports of industrial products fell 0.6% compared to the previous month.

The activities that most influenced this decrease in prices were the production and transportation of electrical energy, with a monthly decrease of 22.8%; motor vehicle manufacturing (-0.7%); the manufacture of electric motors, generators and transformers (-1.6%) and the production of precious metals (-0.7%).

In the case of imports, prices rose 0.3% in February compared to the previous month.

The activities with the greatest positive impact on the monthly rate of import prices of industrial products were coke plants and petroleum refining (3.8%), and the chemical industry, the food industry and metallurgy, all of them. with an advance of 0.9%.