The rise in the price of petroleum products pushed producer and import prices forward in July in Switzerland.
The prices of scrap iron and steel, vegetables and potatoes have fallen, while petroleum products in particular have risen.
KEYSTONE
Producer and import prices increased very slightly in July compared to the previous month, mainly due to higher prices for petroleum products. However, the decline is still significant compared to July 2019.
The price index compiled by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) rose 0.1% to 98.3 points, compared to June. Production tariffs remained stable, while import tariffs increased by 0.5%.
In terms of production, the prices of scrap iron and steel, vegetables and potatoes have fallen, while petroleum products in particular have risen.
On imports, the prices of hydrocarbons, copper and derivatives, as well as other fruits and nuts have increased. Those for computers and peripheral equipment, vegetables, potatoes and metals fell.
The trend is reversed compared to July 2019, with a drop in prices of 3.3%, of which -2% at the level of production and -5.9% for the import of goods. The decline is mainly to be blamed on the fall in petroleum products, both in production (-37.2%) and in imports (-38.8%).
Hydrocarbon prices collapsed on a year-over-year basis, with a barrel of Brent plunging 31.6% year-on-year and that of WTI dropping 30.6%. Black gold had taken a historic plunge in April, with the US crude oil contract price even dropping into negative territory.
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