Euro zone producers prices inch up in September

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone producer prices rose in line with expectations in September from a month earlier and plunged year-on-year due to a sharp drop in energy prices, data showed on Tuesday.

The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said prices at factory gates in the 20 countries sharing the euro were 0.5% higher month-on-month in September and 12.4% down against a year earlier, in line with economists’ expectations.

Month-on-month, energy prices rose 2.2%, but prices of intermediate goods, such as steel, sugar or wood, and of non-durable consumer goods, such as clothing, each fell by 0.2%.

Compared with a year earlier, energy prices were 31.3% lower and intermediate goods prices down 4.8%, more than offsetting increases for capital goods of 3.9% and of durable and non-durable consumer goods of 4.3% and 5.5% respectively.

Producer prices are an early indication of trends in consumer inflation, which the European Central Bank wants to bring down to its target of 2.0% from 4.2% in October, its lowest level in over two years.

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