Slightly smaller rise in factory prices

Factory gate prices of Dutch manufactured products were nearly 11 percent higher in August than twelve months previously. This is a slightly smaller rise than in July, when they were just over 12 percent higher. August was the fourth successive month that prices increased by more than 10 percent.

Selling prices in the petroleum processing and refining industry were 38 percent higher in August than one year previously. The rise was smaller than in the two preceding months, however. In June and July the products cost about 48 percent more than in the same months last year. The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent oil in August was 115 dollars on average, 62 percent higher than twelve months previously. The price increase in euros was less substantial (50 percent) because of the depreciation of the US dollar against the euro.

Factory prices in the chemical industry have risen sharply in recent months. In August they rose by 16 percent. Such an increase has not been reported since October 2000. In the basic metal industry, too, factory prices have been increasing in recent months. In August they rose by nearly 8 percent.

Price rises in the food industry have been diminishing since the beginning of this year. In August prices were 6 percent higher, compared with nearly 13 percent in January.

In August 2008, factory gate prices in the manufacturing industry were 1.4 percent down on the preceding month. The price increase for products sold on the domestic market was equal to the price increase for exported products.

Factory gate prices