Industrial output prices rise 15.3% in September. YoY, less than EU average

Industrial output prices rose 16% in the euro area and 16.2% in the European Union (EU) in September compared to the same month in 2020, mainly due to increases in energy prices, Eurostat reported on Thursday.

Eurostat reveals that this year-on-year change was essentially ‘pulled’ by price increases in the energy sector in September 2021, both in the euro area (+40.7%) and the EU (+40.1%), followed by those in intermediate goods, capital goods and durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods.

By country, in September this year compared to the same month in 2020, industrial producer prices rose in all member states, with the highest recorded in Ireland (+82.9%), Denmark (+34.4%) and Estonia (+29.9%). In Portugal, they rose below the euro area and European average (+15.3%).

In the monthly change, industrial producer prices increased in September by 2.7% in both the euro area and the EU compared to August 2021.

Again, the increases in domestic industrial producer prices were mainly due to rises in the energy sector (+7.7% in the euro area and +7.8% in the EU).

The main monthly increases among the 27 Member States were in Ireland (+23.2%), Denmark (+8.4%) and Greece (+5.8%). In Portugal, industrial producer prices rose by 2.9% in September 2021 compared to August this year.

The data comes at a time of escalating electricity prices due to the rise in the gas market, higher demand and falling temperatures, which threatens to exacerbate energy poverty and cause difficulties in paying heating bills this autumn and winter.

The European Commission presented in mid-October a “toolbox” to guide EU countries in adopting measures at a national level.

Within the scope of this communication, the European Commission proposed that member states proceed with ‘vouchers’, temporary reductions or moratoria to ease the burden of electricity bills for the most fragile consumers, and also suggested an investigation into “possible anticompetitive behaviour”.

The EU executive also suggested that countries should assess the “potential benefits” of a voluntary joint purchase of gas reserves.