December industrial inflation rate remains static

The annual rate of industrial inflation remained unchanged in December, according figures released today by the Central Statistics Office.

Factory gate prices fell 0.2 per cent for the month to bring the overall Manufacturing Output Price Index to 131.3, down from 131.6 in November.

The annual rate of industrial inflation for November was 0.5 per cent.

Contributing to the monthly change were decreases in dairy products (down 1.0 per cent), mineral oil refining and electrical engineering (down 0.8 per cent), while there was an increase in tobacco (up 2.6 per cent).

Over the year the most significant changes were increases in tobacco (up 4.7 per cent), pharmaceuticals and other chemical products (including man-made fibres) (up 2.7 per cent) and drink (up 2.4 per cent) and falls in mineral oil refining, dairy products (down 2.0 per cent) and electrical engineering (down 1.9 per cent).