Producers' Output and Input Prices Fall

Producers' Output and Input Prices Fall

Producers' output and input prices both fell in the September 2002 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's Producers Price Index (PPI).

The PPI outputs index, which measures changes in prices received by producers, fell 0.6 percent in the September 2002 quarter. This is the first quarter that output prices have fallen since the March 2001 quarter. The most significant contributions to the fall in output prices came from the dairy cattle farming index (down 23.7 percent) and the dairy product manufacturing index (down 9.7 percent). These falls reflect lower payouts to dairy farmers and lower export prices for dairy products.

The PPI inputs index, which measures changes in the prices of inputs into production, fell 1.2 percent in the September 2002 quarter. This is the largest fall in producers' input prices since the PPI started in the December 1977 quarter. The most significant contributions to the fall came from the dairy product manufacturing index (down 24.0 percent), and the meat and meat product manufacturing index (down 2.5 percent).

On an annual basis, the PPI outputs index rose 0.3 percent from the September 2001 quarter to the September 2002 quarter. This is the lowest annual increase recorded for output prices since the June 1999 quarter. The PPI inputs index recorded an annual fall of 1.7 percent, the largest annual fall in input prices since the start of the PPI in the December 1977 quarter.

Brian Pink

Government Statistician

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