Price index of first-hand domestic sales, 15 March 2010

The price index of first-hand domestic sales increased by 0.7 per cent from February to March 2010. One of the reasons behind the increase in the overall index was higher food prices, but the strongest contribution to the price growth came from the price development within mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials. Prices of machinery and transport equipment as well as prices of miscellaneous manufactured articles sank from February to March, but among the remaining commodity groups, prices grew during this period.

Food prices in PIF have increased since November 2009. The food prices rose 0.8 per cent from February to March 2010 and this commodity group experienced an increase both in import prices as well as prices in the home market. Prices of meat and meat preparations played the largest role in bringing the food prices up in the domestic market, while higher prices of vegetables and fruit were an important reason behind the increase in prices of imported food.

Prices of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials increased by 2.7 per cent from February to March. This was mainly because prices of petroleum and petroleum products rose 6.9 per cent.

From February to March, prices of machinery and transport equipment as well as prices of miscellaneous manufactured articles sank by 0.3 and 0.4 per cent respectively. Apart from electrical machinery and apparatus, where prices also sank in the domestic market, the price decrease for these two commodity groups was due to reduced import prices.

Twelve month growth: Prices up 7.6 per cent since March 2009

The price index of first-hand domestic sales increased by 7.6 per cent from March 2009 to March 2010. The two most important reasons behind this price growth were more than 40 per cent higher prices within mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials as well as an increase of more than 15 per cent in prices of crude materials (inedible, except fuels). On the other hand, prices of machinery and transport equipment as well as prices of miscellaneous manufactured articles, where prices sank 3.7 and 1.3 per cent respectively, moderated the overall growth in PIF from March last year to March this year.