© Archyde.com/WOLFGANG RATTAY
Christmas shoppers wearing masks on Cologne’s main shopping street, Hohe Strasse (Main Street), during the COVID-19 epidemic in Cologne
BRUSSELS, Jan 6 (Archyde.com) – Eurozone producer prices rose more than expected in November, but in monthly terms their rise slowed significantly compared to October, according to Eurostat estimates released Thursday.
The European Union statistical office said factory door prices in the 19 countries that share the euro rose 1.8% month-on-month for a 23.7% year-on-year increase.
Economists had forecast a monthly rise of 1.2% and an annual increase of 22.9%, according to a poll by Archyde.com.
However, the monthly rise in November was much lower than the 5.4% increase registered in October, and also the 2.7% increase in September.
For the year as a whole, the rise in prices continued to accelerate in November, following they rose by 21.9% in October from the exceptionally low levels of a year earlier, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Energy prices were the main cause of the increase in November, with an increase of 3.5% in the month and 66.0% in year-on-year terms.
Producer prices translate into higher prices for consumers. In November, general consumer inflation in the euro zone reached 4.9%, the highest level by far in the 25 years that this figure has been compiling, compared to 4.1% the previous month.
Eurostat will publish preliminary estimates of consumer inflation in December on Friday.
(Report by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; translation by Flora Gómez)
