The decline in producer prices in the construction industry continues for the second consecutive month. The index reveals it Istat released today according to which in March, industrial producer prices decreased by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 9.6% on an annual basis (it was -10.8% in February).
This was determined above all by the trend in energy costs (-34% supply of electricity and gas; -20.4% for extractive activities. In fact, if overall on the domestic market prices recorded a month-on-month drop of 0.4 % and 12.7% on an annual basis (from -14.2% in the previous month), net of the energy sector, prices reveal an albeit very modest growth (+0.1%) maintaining a steady trend decline at -2 ,2%.
It is no coincidence that at an aggregate level, construction production prices for “Residential and non-residential buildings” recorded a limited drop of 0.1% on a monthly basis and 0.4% on an annual basis in March (it had been -0 .3% in the previous month). The prices of “Roads and Railways” also recorded a decrease of 0.1% on a monthly basis; in trend terms, they fell by 1.1% (from -2.2% in the previous month).
Among the manufacturing activities relating to the construction industry, the largest trend declines recorded in March concern the chemical products sectors (-7.5% domestic market, -8.0% euro area, -4.1% non-euro area), metallurgy and manufacturing of metal products (-5.7% domestic market, -6.7% euro area, -5.1% non-euro area), rubber and plastic items (-3.3% domestic market and non-euro area , -1.9% euro area) and the wood, paper and printing industry (-2.8% domestic market, -8.1% euro area, -4.9% non-euro area).
