Industrial prices fell 1%, down from a 8.0% year-on-year increase in February, the INE said, revising a preliminary February gain of 7.8%. The 12-month industrial price index had not fallen since December 2020. Energy prices led the decrease, including a fall in the cost of electricity, the INE said. Price of fuels and natural gas also fell during the month. Following disorder on energy markets in 2021 and 2022, the rise in Spanish industrial prices peaked at 47% in March 2022, as a result of a surge in demand caused by a strong economical revival after the pandemic, which coincided with the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Companies tend to pass industrial price rises on to customers in order to safeguard their business margins, ultimately fuelling inflation. Intermediate goods and capital goods prices also fell over the period. Annual inflation in the period through March was 3.3%, down from a peak of 10.8% last summer, INE said earlier this month, though core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, was at 7.5%. (Reporting by Matteo Allievi; editing by Inti Landauro and Jason Neely)
(Adds detail)
April 25 (Reuters) - Spanish industrial prices in March
posted their first year-on-year fall in almost three years led
by a slide in energy costs, the National Statistics Institute
(INE) said on Tuesday.
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