Luxembourg, 06/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to estimates published on Friday by Eurostat, industrial producer prices in the eurozone rose by 0.4% in March compared with the previous month. In the European Union as a whole (EU15), they rose by 0.3%. In March 2002 compared with the previous month, the evolution of the different sectors was very similar in the eurozone and the EU15. In both areas, the indices for durable and non-durable consumer goods rose by 0.2% and for intermediate and capital goods by 0.1%. Energy increased by 1.5% in the eurozone and 1.2% in the EU15. In March 2002 the strongest price increases were registered in Portugal (1.0%), the Netherlands (0.9%), France (0.7%) and Spain (0.5%), while Luxembourg (-0.1%), Belgium and the UK (both -0.2%) reported the only decreases.
The fall of 0.8% in the eurozone and 0.7% in the EU15 in the index of March 2002 as compared with March 2001, was due to price decreases for energy and intermediate goods. Even though energy prices grew month to month in January to March 2002, over the last twelve months they fell by 4.1% in the eurozone and by 4.2% in the EU15. Intermediate goods decreased by 1.7% and by 1.5% respectively. Capital goods increased by 1.3% in the eurozone and by 1.1% in the EU15. Durable and non-durable consumer goods rose by 1.6% and by 1.0% respectively in the eurozone and by 1.4% and 1.0% in the EU15.