In March, the PPI was largely driven by a significant 29.5% increase in the price of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel over the past year, due to record high crude oil prices. This in turn helped drive up prices in the chemical (13.8%) and metallurgy (16.2%) sectors, while gas and electricity prices also rose (12.6%) as consumers sought to offset high oil prices with alternative energy sources.
On the down side, a 3.0% decline was recorded in the producer prices of optical and electrical equipment, which has declined steadily since January 2004, while producer prices in the vehicle manufacturing sector were also down by 1.2%.
Domestic producer prices rose by 9.9% in March 2005 compared to the same month of 2004 and were up 0.6% on February levels. Domestic prices across manufacturing rose 8.9% on the year in March, compared to 4.0% when export prices are included.
