Industrial inflation in Galicia fell by 6.6% in May, slightly lower than average, due to lower energy prices

Industrial prices fell in May in Galicia by 6.6 percent compared to the same month in 2022, slightly less than the national average, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) this Monday.

In comparison to April, inflation in industry fell by 1.5 percent, so that by now in 2023 the trend is negative by 5.4 percent. Energy prices in the Galician community fell by 26.6%, while consumer goods prices rose by 10%.

Statewide, industrial prices fell 6.9 percent in May from the same month in 2022, a nearly 2.5-point lower rate than in April, driven by lower energy prices.

In the rest of Spain

With the year-on-year decline in May, inflation in the industrial sector is chained three months of negative rates after ending a run of 26 consecutive months of growth in March, in which it posted double-digit rates for more than 20 months.

The decrease in industrial prices recorded in May is a consequence of the drop in energy, which decreased its rate by 4.5 points, to -24.9%, due to cheaper oil processing and, to a lesser extent, production, transport and distribution of electricity. and gas, whose prices fell more than in May 2022.

Intermediate products also had an impact, which reduced their annual rate by 2.5 points, to -4%, due to the movement of prices for the production of basic iron and chemical products, and non-durable consumer goods, whose annual rate fell by three percent. tenth, to 10.9%, due to lower prices in the production of dairy products.

In contrast, the only sector that had a positive impact on industrial inflation was the capital goods sector, which maintained its rate at 3.6% as a result of the increase in prices in the production of motor vehicles, higher than that recorded in May 2022.

According to INE, excluding energy, industrial prices last May showed year-on-year growth of 2.9%, which is almost 10 points higher than the general rate.

By activity, the biggest drop in prices compared to May 2022 was recorded in coking plants and oil refining (-33.7%); electricity and gas supply (-21.7%) and metallurgy (-17.6%).

In contrast, the highest year-on-year growth was recorded in the production of products from other non-metallic minerals (+12.3%), the production of beverages (+11.8%) and the food industry (+10.6%), which accumulates 17 months with double-digit growth .

prices are falling

In the monthly rate (May compared to April), industrial prices fell by 1.6%, thus accumulating three consecutive months of decline after those of March (-2.5%) and April (-1.9%).

Energy was the driver of this monthly decline in industrial prices, recording a drop of 4.9%, followed by intermediate products, which fell by 1%. On the other hand, the price of non-durable consumer goods rose by 0.4% in May compared to the previous month due to higher prices in the production of oils and fats and in the production of meat products.

The activities in which the prices grew the most in a monthly rate and which had the greatest impact were the production of vegetable and animal oils and fats (+2.4%); production of motor vehicles and production of other food products (+0.6% in both cases); and meat processing and preservation (+0.4%).

On the other hand, the most pronounced monthly price drop and the biggest impact on the index was recorded by oil refining (-8.9%); gas production (-5%); production of precious metals and other non-ferrous metals (-4%); and electricity production (-3%).

Three communities with positive rates

The annual rate of the industrial price index decreased in May in all autonomous communities, Statistics show. The largest decline compared to the April rate occurred in the Basque Country, the region of Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha, whose rates fell by 3.7 points.

At the end of May, three communities reported positive industrial prices. The highest annual rates were recorded in La Rioja (+2.5%) and Extremadura (+2.4%), and the most moderate in Navarre (+1%).

In contrast, 14 regions presented negative rates in their industrial prices at the end of May, especially Asturias (-19.5%), the Balearic Islands (-17.8%) and the Canary Islands (-16%).