Wholesale electricity prices last month were 50.5% lower than March 2022, according to data released today (Friday, April 21) by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Wholesale Price Index March 2023 also shows that the cost of wholesale electricity was 8.7% lower than February.
The overall Energy Products Index decreased by 7.6% since February 2023 and by 45.8% when compared with March 2022.
Prices
However, the CSO said that domestic producer prices for manufactured goods were on average 9.2% higher in March 2023 compared with a year earlier, while producer prices for exported goods increased by 1.1%.
The figures show that producer prices for food products rose by 5.2% in the 12 months to March 2023, while the food products, beverages and tobacco index also saw an increase of 5.2%.
Over the 12 months to March 2023 producer prices for fruit and vegetables were up by 18%, fish and fish products rose by 17.5%, dairy products jumped by 15.4% and there was an 11.6% increase for grain, milling, starches and animal feeds.
Wholesale prices for construction products decreased by 0.1% in the month but increased by 13.5% in the 12 months since March 2022.
Notable annual increases in construction products were structural steel fabricated metal (73.1%), plaster (34.7%), cement (24.1%) and ready mixed mortar and concrete: 21.7%
Producer prices for non-metallic mineral products, such as glass, ceramics, cement, concrete and stone rose by 17.8%, while wood and wood products rose by 7.5%.
CSO
Commenting on the data, Jillian Delaney, statistician in the CSO prices division, said: ”Wholesale price inflation showed a small increase in March 2023 with a rise of 0.5% to the overall producer price index for the manufacturing industries in the month.
“The price index for export sales also rose 0.5% on February 2023, while the index for home sales fell by 0.9% in the month.
“Producer prices for products sold on the domestic market are now 9.2% higher than they were in March 2022, with export producer prices rising by 1.1% and overall producer prices by 1.5% in the year.
“Producer prices in the food products index dropped by 0.3% in the month, but this overall index was still 5.2% higher than in March 2022.
“While the prices for some food products fell in the month, for example dairy products (-4.4%), most food categories were still significantly higher in March 2023 compared with the same month in 2022, including fruit and vegetables (+18.2%), fish and fish Products (+17.5%) and dairy products (+15.4%),” Delaney said.