Industrial prices have recorded a downward trend for another month thanks to the fall in the costs of production, transport and distribution of electricity and, to a lesser extent, gas production. In the first month of the year, the fall in the monthly variation rate of the Industrial Price Index (IPRI) has been 2%, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Thursday. A result that is positive in that it takes pressure off inflation at a time when most analysts rule out that the country could enter a recession.
On the contrary, the manufacture of non-durable consumer goods, that is, beverages and other food products, which marked a rise in January, with a monthly variation of 2.5%. Although the prices of the production of precious metals and other non-ferrous metals have also risen, the cost of manufacturing chemical products such as fertilizers, plastics or synthetic rubbers has fallen. Although, the weight of energy products has been notably higher in the balance (-17% electricity and -2.6% gas), so January represents the fourth consecutive month of decline in industrial prices.
In the annual comparison, price growth has also moderated to 8.2%, which is the lowest rate since March 2021, when inflation in this sector began a price escalation that reached double digits for more than twenty months. In January, industrial prices grew six and a half points less than in the last month of 2022, although the manufacture of certain products such as beverages (7.2%) or rubber (6.4%) has registered increases that have prevented the fall sea mayor.
The fall in the annual variation rate of the IPRI has been noted throughout the Spanish territory. Although the case of Asturias and the Canary Islands stands out, where there was already a negative evolution in the month of December and in January it reached -12%. Along the same lines, the Balearic Islands went from 1.9% in the last month of 2022 to start the year at 10.8%. In this sense, it is also worth noting the evolution of the community that is home to the Spanish capital, since it has registered a drop of almost nine points, going from 10.4% to -0.3% at the end of January.
Rising cost of manufacturing food
Therefore, the prices of the industrial sector responded favorably to the downward trend in energy prices during the month of January, after a month of December in which lows not seen in more than a year were reached. However, the tension generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is one year old today, persists. And proof of this is the upward trend in the manufacturing prices of food products, which has become the price reflected on supermarket shelves and has been the focus of political concern in recent weeks.
