Eurozone producer-price deflation eased in January

Producer-price deflation in the eurozone cooled in January, as the drop in energy prices was significantly less than the previous month.

Industrial producer prices were 0.9% lower over the month, in line with the monthly decline in December, but down 8.6% on January 2022, compared with a revised 10.7% decrease in December.

Economists however were expected smaller declines of 0.1% month-on-month and 8.1% year-on-year.

Energy price deflation is the main driver of falling producer prices. Energy prices were 21.3% lower than the year before, compared with the 27.3% year-on-year drop in December.

Excluding energy, producer prices would have been just 1.5% lower than the previous year in January, following a 0.5% decline in December.