Manufacturing industry output prices up 22.9% in May YoY, highest ever rise

  • Lusa
  • 21 June 2022

Excluding energy, the manufacturing output price index increased by 16.3% in May compared to the same month in 2021, showing the highest growth in the current series.

The manufacturing output price index rose 22.9% in May compared to the same month in 2021, compared to 22.8% in April, registering the highest growth in the current series, it was announced on Tuesday.

In the Economic Outlook – May 2022, released today, the National Statistics Institute (INE) states that, excluding the energy component, the manufacturing output price index increased by 16.3% in May compared to the same month in 2021, also showing the highest growth in the current series (compared to 15.7% in April).

Regarding the inflation rate, INE recalls that the year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 8.0% in May, the highest level since February 1993.

The underlying inflation indicator (total CPI excluding energy and unprocessed food) registered a year-on-year change of 5.6% in May, down from 5.0% in April and the highest since October 1994.

“Largely reflecting the acceleration in prices, the short-term indicators of economic activity in the production perspective, available until April 2022, continued to reveal high growth in nominal terms, albeit decelerating from the previous month,” INE says.

In industry, the turnover index rose 19.7% in April (versus 26.1% in March), a nominal growth inseparable from the current cycle of price increases in industry (24.7% in April), INE said, stressing that the results obtained may have been influenced by the fact that April had 19 working days, two less than in 2021 and three less than in March 2022.

On the external front, INE said that the more significant rise in implicit prices of goods imports compared to exports reflected losses in terms of trade, which have worsened in recent months due mainly to the prices of energy goods, contributing to the deterioration of the external balance of goods.

According to the Employment Survey provisional monthly estimates, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (for people aged 16 to 74) was 5.8% in April, identical to the final figures recorded in the previous month and three months ago (6.9% in April 2021). The labour underutilisation rate (16 to 74 year-olds) stood at 11.2%, unchanged from March (13.0% in April 2021).

The employed population (16 to 74 year-olds), also seasonally adjusted, decreased by 0.1% from the previous month and increased by 3.5% year-on-year (year-on-year change of 4.0% in March).

According to the May 2022 edition of the Rapid and Exceptional Business Survey – COVID-19, 56% of responding firms reported that they had already reached or exceeded their pre-pandemic level of activity in May 2022.

In accommodation and catering this proportion was lower (37%).

On the other hand, 54% of the companies foresee an increase in turnover in 2022 compared to the previous year and only 14% foresee a reduction. In the accommodation and catering sector, this percentage of companies rises to 75%.

Considering the information available for June, the price of oil (Brent) continued its upward movement, registering an average price of 119.3 euros in the first sixteen days, which represents an increase of 11.3% compared to the average price in May.