MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish producer prices fell 8.1% in the 12 months through June, compared with a revised 6.8% decline in the period through May, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Monday.
The decline was driven by cheaper energy, with prices down 26% during the period, INE said. Prices of intermediate goods also fell.
Energy prices fell steeply over recent months after turmoil on energy markets in 2021 and 2022, caused by the post-COVID economic recovery and then the war in Ukraine, pushed Spanish producer price inflation up to a peak of 47% in the period through March 2022.
The decline in producer prices is the steepest since the period through May 2020 when prices fell 8.8%.
The INE revised the May decline to 6.8% from an original 6.9%.
Companies tend to pass on industrial price rises to customers, ultimately fuelling consumer price inflation. The effect of industrial price declines are not automatic, though.
Annual consumer inflation in the period through June in Spain was 1.9%, one of the lowest in the Eurozone, down from a peak of 10.8% a year ago, INE said earlier this month.
(Reporting by Matteo Allievi; Editing by Inti Landauro and David Holmes)
