Producer and import prices continue to fall
Published: Friday, Jan 19th 2024, 10:40
Back to Live Feed
In Switzerland, price pressure for companies has steadily decreased over the course of the past year, including towards the end of the year. In December, annual inflation based on producer and import prices was once again negative, while the average price increase for 2023 settled at a very low level.
The Producer and Import Price Index (PPI) fell by 0.6% to 107.2 points in December compared to November, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Friday. By way of comparison, the index had stood at 109.0 points in July 2023 and had even climbed to almost 110 points in fall 2022 as a result of rising energy prices following the start of the war in Ukraine.
On an annualized basis - i.e. compared to December 2022 - the price level fell by 1.1% last month. This figure was already slightly down in the last seven months, with the strong franc likely to have contributed to the overall fall in prices. The situation was different in mid-2022, when price increases of almost 7% were recorded on an annual basis.
Falling mineral oil prices
The lower index level at the end of 2023 was primarily due to the fall in prices for imported goods (-1.4%). According to the FSO, crude oil and natural gas, petroleum products and pharmaceutical specialties in particular were imported at lower prices. However, falling prices were also seen for metals and semi-finished metal products, passenger cars and food.
The producer price index fell less sharply than import prices (-0.2%). Lower prices were recorded here for petroleum products, metals and semi-finished metal products in particular. Price increases were recorded for carpentry and interior finishing products as well as scrap metal.
Compared to the previous year, the import price index fell by 4.4%. The fall in prices for mineral oil products also played a role here. In contrast, the index for producer prices recorded a year-on-year increase of 0.5%.
Low average value
The FSO also calculates the average annual inflation rate at the end of each year. Measured against the PPI, this fell significantly to +0.2% in 2023 after a high +5.6% in 2022 and +2.7% in 2021.
In 2022, the rise in the price of petroleum products in particular led to the high inflation rate. These prices fell last year, as did those for pharmaceutical products and metals, writes the FSO on the development of annual inflation. Electricity and gas prices, on the other hand, rose.
The PPI measures the price development of goods based on a comprehensive basket of goods produced in Switzerland as well as imported goods. It is regarded as a leading indicator for the development of consumer prices, as the costs of production are normally passed on to consumer prices. It has significantly higher swings and is more volatile due to the high dependence on raw materials.
Inflation measured in terms of consumer prices recently (December) rose to 1.7% from 1.4%, as announced at the beginning of January. Average inflation in 2023 amounted to 2.1 percent after 2.8 percent in 2022. Economists expect inflation to fall below 2 percent in the current year. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is targeting a value between 0% and 2% with its monetary policy.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic