Irish wholesale prices rise on energy costs

Factory gate prices increased by 0.1 per cent in February, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Factory gate prices increased by 0.1 per cent in February, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This compares to a similar increase of 0.1 per cent recorded for February 2004 and gives rise to annual percentage decrease of 0.4 per cent in February.

The price of energy products increased by 13.5 per cent in the year since February 2004; petroleum fuels increased by 13.2 per cent.

The most significant changes were increases in food products and meat - which increased 1.1 per cent and 1.6 per cent and electrical machinery which increased by 2.5 per cent.

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Contributing to the annual change was a 13.7 decrease in office machinery and computers, and there was an 10.5per cent increase in pharmaceuticals & other chemical products and a 10.8 per cent increase in food products.

In the month, the index for home sales increased by 0.4 per cent and the index for export sales increased by 0.1 per cent.

In the year there was an increase in home sales of 1.3 per cent and a decrease in export sales of 0.7 per cent.