Gaps in prices on energy goods

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The prices on crude oil and natural gas sank in October. However, the total index for energy goods did not go down noticeably. This was caused by the prices on both refined petroleum products and electricity getting an upturn.

The electricity prices were influenced by October being colder than normal across large swaths of the country. Colder weather is also one of the reasons for the price increase on refined petroleum products. Another cause is a series of floods that has ravenged the American Midwest. The last round of flooding came in late September, and wet fields have caused large amounts of corn to be dried, to avoid spoiled crops. This has given a significant increase in demand, especially for propane. In addition, some fuel types had increasing prices, which could be a result of September’s price increase on crude oil. When it comes to energy raw materials, natural gas continues its general downward trend it has had in the last months. In October, this was accompanied by crude oil in the downturn. These two energy goods combined showed a price drop of 3,1 percent. Services related to these industries also had a negative price development in October, and ended with a downturn of 1,0 percent.  

Figure 1. Price indices. 2015=100

Extraction of crude oil and natural gas Refined petroleum products Electridity, gas and steam
Jan. 2014 136.94 136.71 127.92
Feb. 2014 135.34 136.99 120.28
Mar. 2014 127.58 133.96 110.94
Apr. 2014 126.48 133.08 105.05
May 2014 123.8 132.71 102.95
Jun. 2014 124.94 135.15 100.28
Jul. 2014 120.13 136.69 110.76
Aug. 2014 116.55 135.89 117.27
Sept. 2014 116.86 128.84 124.51
Oct. 2014 117.23 127.29 116.1
Nov.2014 108.8 121 116.86
Dec. 2014 109.59 108.88 126.49
Jan. 2015 98.88 93.53 122.49
Feb. 2015 104.28 96.61 117.51
Mar. 2015 107.44 104.2 108.78
Apr. 2015 107.4 107.44 106.99
May 2015 108.35 108.06 99.6
Jun. 2015 110.55 108.65 82.8
Jul. 2015 105.06 107.57 71.06
Aug. 2015 93.89 100.28 79.74
Sept. 2015 94.09 93.55 89.29
Oct. 2015 93.64 96.15 104.39
Nov.2015 92.92 95 114.53
Dec. 2015 83.49 88.95 102.82
Jan. 2016 70.81 80 140.55
Feb. 2016 68.65 74.89 110.19
Mars.2016 70.59 76.73 115.89
Apr. 2016 71.41 81.88 115.7
May 2016 75.85 89.53 117.23
Jun. 2016 80.47 96.08 126.9
Jul. 2016 80.71 99.88 124.29
Aug. 2016 78.18 92.32 121.98
Sept. 2016 75.49 92.48 122.56
Oct. 2016 78.76 95.8 145.39
Nov.2016 81.97 99.41 166.86
Dec. 2016 96.15 101.45 146.2
Jan. 2017 94.54 114.45 140.91
Feb. 2017 99.31 122.88 143.2
Mar. 2017 98.13 114.03 140.41
Apr. 2017 90.75 112.62 137.75
May 2017 88.52 107.04 137.86
Jun. 2017 83.81 101.55 126.42
Jul. 2017 80.84 97.42 130.31
Aug. 2017 81.42 100.82 133.24
Sept. 2017 87.04 111.6 146.07
Oct. 2017 95.16 118.73 137.8
Nov.2017 101.47 120.37 153.48
Dec. 2017 108.9 132.32 154.51
Jan. 2018 116.07 132.9 158.32
Feb. 2018 105.04 128.31 177.4
Mar. 2018 106.94 123.89 190.39
Apr. 2018 119.2 125.86 178.11
May 2018 121.03 138.19 164.68
Jun. 2018 122.61 149.8 196.67
Jul. 2018 123.93 149.92 218.38
Aug. 2018 126.23 146 220.54
Sept. 2018 131.61 149.01 213.61
Oct. 2018 144.69 158.35 197.43
Nov.2018 131.38 156.02 213.99
Des. 2018 119.29 142.26 227.35
Jan. 2019 120.76 123.94 235.65
Feb. 2019 122.19 130.94 222.73
Mar. 2019 115.72 132.74 213.82
Apr. 2019 116.94 137.29 211.05
Mai 2019 113.75 138.62 208.25
Jun. 2019 99.8 132.18 191.47
Jul. 2019 96.83 119.5 200.92
Aug. 2019 95.83 118.84 205.83
Sept. 2019 96.27 114.42 200.29
Oct. 2019 93.32 126.23 209.52

Price increase in the industry sector

In addition to production of refined petroleum products, other parts of the industry sector saw prices increase in October. Here, one can take the food industry as a contributary to this. Especially on the export market was there an increase for this category. This mainly came as a result of increased prices in the seafood industry, which stands for the majority of Norwegian food exports. It had an uptick after several months of negative price development. Another important export industry is the metal industry. The prices here continued its increase from September, albeit in a smaller fashion. The largest contributary factors here were the zinc and aluminium prices. Some smaller industries pulled in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, there was an increase, as the the total index for the industrial sector rose by 1,6 percent.