Producers' Output And Input Prices Rise

Producers Price Index: June 2002 quarter

28 August 2002

Producers' Output And Input Prices Rise

Producers' output and input prices both increased in the June 2002 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's Producers Price Index (PPI). The PPI outputs index, which measures changes in prices received by producers, rose 0.5 percent in the June 2002 quarter. The PPI inputs index, which measures changes in the price of inputs to production, rose 0.1 percent in the same period.

The main upward contributions to the rise in the PPI outputs index came from the outputs indexes for wholesale trade and finance. The wholesale trade index recorded an increase of 1.4 percent in the June 2002 quarter, partly due to higher fuel prices.

The construction inputs index, which recorded an increase of 1.4 percent, made the most significant upward contribution to the rise in the PPI inputs index in the June 2002 quarter. The increase in the construction index was mainly due to higher fuel prices pushing up the inputs indexes for construction trade services and non-building construction. The overall rise in producers' input prices was dampened by decreases in a number of inputs indexes, including meat and meat product manufacturing (down 5.3 percent) and electricity generation and supply (down 3.0 percent).

On an annual basis, the PPI outputs index rose 2.3 percent from the June 2001 quarter to the June 2002 quarter. The PPI inputs index increased 1.5 percent over the same period.

Brian Pink Government Statistician END

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