Dutch producer prices up in June

Prices of Dutch manufactured products were on average 6.1 percent higher in June 2006 than in June last year. The increase is more modest than in May, when producer prices were 7.4 percent higher than in May 2005. For two years now, producer prices have been  5 percent or more above the level of the same month one year previously. Such a long, uninterrupted period of high price rises has not occurred since 1990.

Prices of crude oil and oil products largely account for the development of producer prices. The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent oil in euros was 22 percent higher in June than one year previously. If prices of oil products are left out of consideration, producer prices were 3.7 percent higher in June 2006 than twelve months ago. This is almost equal to the price increase in May 2006 on May last year.

Compared to the preceding month, manufacturers raised the selling prices of their products in June by an average 0.4 percent. Prices of the goods sold on the Dutch market increased by 0.3 percent and prices of goods sold on the export market rose by 0.4 percent in June compared to May. Germany, a major trading partner for the Netherlands, witnessed a similar development; selling prices on the domestic market were 0.3 percent up on May this year.

Within Dutch manufacturing industry, selling prices rose above average from May on June in the sectors food processing and basic metal products, i.e. by 0.9 and 1.1 percent respectively. Producer prices in the sector leather and leather products, on the other hand, fell by 0.5 percent. Producer prices in the paper industry fell by 0.4 percent from May on June this year.

Factory gate prices