As the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported on Monday, industrial prices were down 6.9% in May from the same month of 2022, about 2.5 percentage points lower than in April due to cheaper energy.
Industrial sector inflation, along with the annual decline in May, chained negative quarterly rates after ending a 26-month period of increase in March, when it reached double-digit rates for more than 20 months.
The decline in industrial prices in May stemmed from energy, which decreased by 4.5 percentage points to -24.9% due to cheaper oil refinery and to a lesser extent electricity generation, transportation and distribution. and gas, whose prices have fallen more than in May 2022.
Intermediate goods were also influential, reducing their annual rate by 2.5 percentage points to -4%, as prices for basic iron and chemical products and manufacturing non-durable consumer goods fell by 3 percent annually. increased by one-tenth to 10.9% due to the decline in prices in dairy products manufacturing.
On the other hand, the only sector that had a positive impact on industrial inflation was capital goods, which kept its rate of 3.6% as a result of the higher increase in motor vehicle manufacturing prices compared to May 2022.
At the monthly rate (May to April), industrial prices fell by 1.6%, accumulating three consecutive monthly declines from March (-2.5%) and April (-1.9%).
In this monthly decline in industrial prices, energy was the most important sector with a decrease of 4.9%, followed by intermediate goods with a decrease of 1%. Non-durable goods, on the other hand, increased their prices by 0.4% in May compared to the previous month due to the increase in the prices of oil and fat manufacturing and meat products manufacturing.