Manufacturing output prices below last year's level
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), output prices of products manufactured in the Netherlands were 5 percent down in December 2015 from December 2014. In November year-on-year prices were almost 7 percent down. This time too, the crude oil price and prices of petroleum derivatives had plummeted. Year-on-year oil prices fell less rapidly in December than in November.
Oil prices and output prices down
Since 2013, year-on-year oil prices have fallen almost continuously. In December, the barrel price of North Sea Brent oil was nearly 36 euros, i.e. 30 percent below the price level recorded in December 2014. In November, the barrel price was nearly 43 euros, i.e. 33 percent below the level recorded one year previously.
Year-on-year prices of petroleum derivatives slumped by 24.4 percent in December 2015 and by 28 percent in November. Evidently, prices of petroleum derivatives are directly affected by crude oil price developments. If petroleum price developments are not taken into account, manufacturing output prices were 2.4 percent lower.
Prices of chemical products were 9.4 percent lower than twelve months previously. Prices of food products were more than 1 percent below the level of one year previously. Prices of basic metal products also fell, by nearly 5 percent compared to twelve months ago. Metal products were also cheaper in December than one year previously.
Year-on-year prices of machinery, cars, rubber and plastic products, on the other hand, rose marginally.
Altogether, the eight industries referred to in the above text and the corresponding graph account for nearly 80 percent of total Dutch manufacturing industry.
Manufactured products cheaper in December than in November
Prices of manufactured products decreased on a month-to-month basis. In December 2015, output prices of manufactured products fell by 2.2 percent relative to November 2015. Prices on the foreign market fell by 2.6 percent, prices on the domestic market by 1.9 percent. In December, oil prices fell considerably compared to November.