Czech Republic Producer Prices

Producer prices dropped back slightly in March, rising at an annual 5.3% versus the 5.6% registered in February. This is now the second month they have fallen on an annual basis, since in February they were down from the 6% high registered in January.



In March 2008, compared to the previous month, prices of agricultural and industrial producers were up by 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively; prices of construction work and market services grew by 0.5% and 1.4%, respectively.

Industrial producer prices rose by 0.3% (+0.1% in February). The growth of the price level was the most markedly influenced by higher prices of ‘coke, refined petroleum products’ (+3.7%), ‘basic metals and fabricated metal products’ and ‘chemicals, chemical products and man-made fibres’ (+0.6% both). The most significant drop of prices came in ‘food products, beverages and tobacco’ (-0.3%) after successive eleven months of growth. Of these the highest decreases were recorded for the prices of ‘dairy products and ice cream’ (-2.0%), ‘meat and meat products’ (-0.4%) and ‘other food products’ (-0.1%). Prices went down markedly in ‘coal and lignite; peat; crude petroleum’ (-1.2%), ‘wood and products of wood and cork’ (-1.0%) and ‘other manufactured goods n.e.c.’ (-0.9%).

Industrial producer prices grew by 5.3% (+5.6% in February). The price level was influenced most significantly by prices of ‘food products, beverages and tobacco’ which rose by 10.8%, of which prices of ‘dairy products and ice cream’ were up by 17.3%, ‘prepared animal feed’ by 35.6% and ‘other food products’ by 8.6%. Prices of ‘coke, refined petroleum products’ increased by 26.5% and prices of ‘electrical energy, gas, steam and water’ by 9.3%. Prices went down y-o-y particularly in ‘transport equipment’ (-4.0%), of which particularly ‘parts and accessories for motor vehicles and their engines’ (-7.2%). Prices of ‘rubber and plastic products’ dropped by 2.3% and prices of ‘wood and products of wood and cork’ by 2.9% (-1.0% in February), of which ‘wood, sawn, planed or impregnated’ by 13.0%.

Export Prices

In February 2008, export prices decreased by 1.0%, import prices by 1.1%, month-on-month. Year-on-year, export prices fell by 5.0% and import prices by 3.3%. The terms of trade figures reached 100,1%, m-o-m, and 98.2%, y-o-y.



Exports: following the slight month on month growth recorder in January, export prices recovered their downward trend in February and dropped by 1.0%, especially due to the strong appreciation of the koruna. The drop of the total m-o-m export price index came mainly from a 0.9% decrease in prices of 'machinery and transport equipment’ (particularly road vehicles) and 'manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ by 1.6%. Among other sections important in terms of weight, decreases were recorded for ‘chemicals and related products’ by 1.6%, ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ by 1.3% and ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ by 1.2%. Price growth was registered only for 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 1.3%.