Manufacturing prices fall 4% in April

Manufacturing prices dropped 4 per cent in April to 86, according to figures released by the CSO today.

The index takes prices in 2000 as its benchmark, which is set at 100. Factory gate prices are 0.3 per cent lower than in March.

In the month the price index for export sales decreased 0.4 per cent, bringing the fall over the last 12 months to 6.4 per cent.

For home sales the index increased by 1.6 per cent in the month and by 6.3 per cent in the year to April.

Petroleum fuels were 24.8 per cent higher last month than in April 2007. This had a knock-on impact in the cost of bituminous emulsions – used in road surfacing – which were up 23.2 per cent over the year to April. The cost of Petroleum products rose by 1.5 per cent in the month.

Other significant price changes in the month were a 3.1 per cent rise in pharmaceutical and other chemical products and a 1.9 per cent rise in meat.

Over the year office machinery and computer prices have fallen by 16.2 per cent.