Italy Producer Price Inflation Rises To 31.7%, Non-EU Trade Surplus Grows

(RTTNews) - Italy's producer price inflation accelerated at the end of the year, largely driven by rises in electricity supply prices on the domestic market, figures from the statistical office ISTAT showed on Monday. Separate official data showed that the trade surplus with non-EU countries rose in December, as exports grew more rapidly than imports.

The producer price index climbed 31.7 percent year-over-year in December, faster than the 29.4 percent rise in November.

The upward trend in inflation was mainly driven by increases in electricity supply prices on the domestic market, the statistical office said.

Overall energy prices jumped 71.4 percent annually in November, and the increase in prices of consumer goods was 11.1 percent.

Domestic market producer prices surged 39.2 percent in November compared to last year and those in the foreign market rose 9.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, producer prices moved up 2.9 percent, following a 2.6 percent gain in November. Further, this was the highest price increase since 2000.

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Compared to the previous year, overall producer prices rose 34.4 percent in 2022. Further, this was the highest price growth since 2000.

The acceleration in inflation in 2022 was primarily attributed to a 104.3 percent jump in energy products in the domestic market, which was only 33.6 percent in 2021.

Another official data revealed that Italy's Non-EU trade surplus increased to EUR 4.08 billion in December from EUR 2.2 billion in the corresponding month last year. In November, the surplus was EUR 1.81 billion.

Both exports and imports climbed by 18.2 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, in December from a year ago.

The strong annual export performance in December mainly relied on higher sales of capital goods and energy.

On a monthly basis, exports fell 2.6 percent, led by a 6.4 percent decline in shipments of capital goods. Imports also fell by 4.2 percent.