Stats: Industrial Producer Prices Down More Than 15 percent Y-o-Y in February

Bratislava, March 28 (TASR) - Industrial producer prices for the domestic market decreased for the second consecutive month, seeing as much as a double-digit drop of over 15 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in February, mainly owing to a fall in energy costs by one third and a decline in the production of means of transport, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday. The overall drop in industrial producer prices of 15.8 percent chiefly resulted from a fall in energy prices, which went down by as much as 32.7 percent y-o-y. However, the price drop was also caused by a 2.2 percent decrease in prices in the production of means of transport, a 5.4 percent decline in the production of metals and a 2.1 percent drop in the production of food, beverages and tobacco. The production of rubber and plastics posted a price drop for the first time - of 1.1 percent in February. Meanwhile, prices in water supplies continued to grow - by 7.4 percent y-o-y in February. On a monthly basis, industrial producer prices fell by 5.4 percent. Prices of industrial products for export in February were 2.2 percent lower than the year before, while they shrank by 0.2 percent on a monthly basis. A y-o-y drop was also posted for the prices of farm products, which went down by 16.3 percent in February. ko/df