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Industrial prices fell by 0.2% in the Basque Country in December 2009, according to EUSTAT data. The year-on-year rate for December, which indicates the fluctuation in industrial prices over the last twelve months, therefore fell by 2.9%.

A more detailed sectorial analysis shows that the most inflationary branches in December 2009, with regard to the previous month included “Metal and Non-Metal Minerals” (1.5%), “Paper, Publishing and Graphic Arts” (0.9%), “Electrical Equipment” (0.3%) and ”Non-metal Industry” (0.3%). By contrast, the sectors with the greatest fall in prices were “Oil By-products" (-1.6%), "Textile and Garments" (-0.8%) and the "Food Industry” (-0.4%).

During the year-on-year period, December 2009 on Decemberr 2008, the highest price increases were registered by the branches of “Oil Refinery" (20.5%) “Other Manufacturers” (4.3%). “Non-metal Industry” (2.5%) and “Transport Equipment” (2.0%). However, the largest falls in prices were recorded in the following sectors: “Electricity, Gas and Water” (-13.9%), “Metallurgy and Metal Articles “ (-9.7%), and the “Timber Industry" (-5.6%).

Following the classification of Goods by economic destination, the prices in the large sectorial groups performed differently in December with respect to the previous month: Energy prices fell by 0.9% and Capital Goods were down by 0.1%, while Intermediary Goods rose by 0.1%. Consumer Goods, as a whole, fell by 0.3%, mainly as the result of the decrease in Consumer Non-Durables (-0.3%), as Consumer Durables were only down by 0.1%.

The price evolution of these large groups of goods reveals differences over the year-on-year period. Intermediary Goods fell by 6.4%, Energy prices increased by 1.1%, Capital Goods rose by 0.4% and Consumer Goods registered a 1.4% decrease. Among the latter, the prices of Consumer Non-Durables fell by 1.6% while Consumer Durables decreased by 0.9%.