The ratio is one to ten. A look at the price curve offers an immediate insight into the extraordinary nature of the phase we are going through: in just 12 months the growth trend in producer prices has gone from a dramatic +36.9% in March 2022 to a more “human” +3 .8% of the latest Istat survey.
The drop in energy prices continues to reverberate downstream on the production chains, producing the third consecutive monthly drop in prices: a 1.5% slowdown linked precisely to gas, electricity and oil, while for manufacturing the drop is limited to 0.1%, in any case replicating the February figure.
The index thus returns to levels not seen since June-July 2022, while the trend growth of 3.8% is the lowest since March 2021, when progress was 2.1%.
A descent which therefore originates from energy and which slowly begins to overflow into industry, starting with intermediate goods, the first link in the exchange chain after raw materials. Here, in fact, the monthly drop is the most consistent (-0.4%), while consumer goods and capital goods are still in progress.
If the monthly drop is no longer a novelty (this is the third consecutive month), Istat rightly points out the change of pace of some sectors on an annual basis: in particular, for metallurgy + metal products it is seen for the first time after over two years a minus.