Service producer prices increase in the third quarter

Service producer prices rose by 2.9 per cent in the third quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The experimental Services Produce Price Index (SPPI), which measure changes in average prices charged by domestic service producers to other businesses, shows prices increased by 0.1 per cent from July to September as against a rise of 0.3 per cent in the preceding quarter.

According to the index, the most notable quarterly price changes were in postal and courier costs, which rose by 5 per cent. Freight and removal by road costs were up 0.7 per ent, while air transport costs declined by 1 per cent.

On an annual basis, the biggest cost increases were in the air transport and postal and courier categories, which rose by 12.4 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Over the year, employment and human resource activities increased by 4.7 per cent, while warehousing, storage and cargo handling costs were down 1.1 per cent.

The experimental index covers a broad range of industries including transportation and storage, information and communications, professional, scientific and technical activities and administrative and support services activities. In most cases these services are provided to business customers only and so individual price indices should not be considered indicative of more general price trends in the economy, the CSO said.