Spanish 2022 industrial prices rise 14.7%, lowest 12-month rate since 2021

(Reuters) -Spanish industrial prices rose 14.7% in the 12 months through December, down from a revised 20.5% increase in the 12 months through November, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Wednesday.

The industrial 12-month production price increase in December was at its slowest since April 2021, when the increase was 13.0%, the INE data showed. The increase had peaked at an all-time record of 47% in the period through March.

Industrial prices fell 1.7% in December from November, INE said.

This decline was mainly due to a decrease in energy prices, which fell by 15% last month, and cheaper intermediate goods, whose prices dropped more than 2.5% in the same period.

Prices for non-durable goods rose just 0.1%, as a result of an increase in the manufacturing prices of vegetable and animal oils and fats.

Companies tend to pass on industrial price rises to customers, ultimately fuelling inflation.

Spanish consumer prices rose 5.7% in 2022, INE said two weeks ago, down from 6.5% in 2021, while core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, stood at 7.0%.

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio and Matteo Allievi in Gdansk; Editing by Emma Pinedo, Inti Landauro and Timothy Heritage)