Brussels, 03/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The euro zone industrial producer price index rose by 0.1% in August 2006 compared with July 2006, and EU25 prices increased by 0.2%. In July prices gained 0.7% in the euro zone and 0.9% in the EU25. Compared with the same period in 2005, industrial producer prices rose by 5.7% in the euro zone and by 6.2% in the EU25. In August, compared with the previous month, prices in total industry, excluding the energy sector, rose by 0.2% in both zones. Prices in the energy sector fell by 0.4%, in the euro zone, but rose by 0.2% in the EU25. In both zones, intermediate goods gained 0.4%, capital goods and non-durable consumer goods 0.1% and durable consumer goods remained stable. Among countries, the highest rises were recorded in Hungary (+3.1%), Denmark (+2.8%) and Sweden (+1.3%), with the only drops being in the Netherlands (-1.0%) and Slovenia (-0.2%). Prices remained unchanged in Belgium and the United Kingdom. In August 2006 compared with August 2005, total industry prices, with the exception of energy, rose by 3.6% in the euro zone and by 3.5% in the EU25. Energy sector prices recorded increase of 12.7% and 15.0% respectively. The largest rises were in Luxemburg (+16.7%), Hungary (+11.1%) and Denmark (+11.0%), and the lowest were in Ireland (+1.8%), Slovenia (+2.5%) and the Czech Republic (+2.7%). (ab)