The export prices of industrial products fell by 0.2% in April after 27 months of increases

The General Index of Export Prices of industrial products registered an interannual decrease of 0.2% last April, its first negative rate after 27 consecutive months of interannual increases, as reported on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). ).

The year-on-year drop in export prices in April was due to intermediate goods, non-durable consumer goods and capital goods, in contrast to energy, which raised its year-on-year rate by more than 1.5 points, to -37.4%, due to lower prices in the production, transmission and distribution of electricity compared to April 2022.

For their part, intermediate goods cut their interannual rate by more than 4 points, to -1.1%, due to the drop in the prices of the manufacture of basic iron and chemical products, while capital goods decreased its rate one point, up to 4.9%, because the manufacture of motor vehicles rose less than in April 2022.

Non-durable consumer goods also had an influence on the decrease in export prices, whose interannual rate contracted almost 2.5 points, to 7.7%, due to the lower price of oil manufacturing and the lower rise in prices of processing and elaboration of meat products compared to what it experienced in April 2022.

Excluding energy, the annual rate of the general export index decreased by more than 2.5 points in April, to 3%, a figure more than three points higher than that of the general index.

IMPORT PRICES FALL AT THEIR FASTEST PACE SINCE JANUARY 2021

Regarding the import prices of industrial products, these decreased by 3.8% year-on-year in April, their biggest drop since January 2021.

With the drop in April, import prices have a chain of two consecutive months of negative year-on-year rates after the 0.1% drop registered in March.

This evolution was influenced by energy, which cut its interannual rate by more than 5.5 points, to -26.1%, due to lower prices in the extraction of crude oil and natural gas and, to a lesser extent, in coke ovens and refining of oil.

Intermediate goods also contributed to the fall in the import prices of industrial products, which reduced their interannual rate by more than 3.5 points, to -1.4%, and non-durable consumer goods, whose interannual rate moderated more from 2.5 points, up to 3%, due to lower prices in the food industry.

Discounting energy, the prices of imports of industrial products registered an annual variation rate of 2.4% in April, almost 2.5 points less than in March and more than 6 points above the general rate of import prices .

EXPORTS ARE CHEAPER IN APRIL

In monthly terms (April over March), the prices of exports of industrial products fell by 0.6%, compared to the monthly rise of 1.4% registered a year earlier.

This drop, the second in a row after that of March, was influenced, among other factors, by the 6.2% drop in energy due to lower prices in the production, transportation and distribution of electricity and oil refining.

For their part, the prices of imports fell by 0.8% in the fourth month of the year compared to the previous month, with which they have already chained three consecutive months of monthly falls.