Ireland experienced a notable acceleration in wholesale price inflation in April, reaching its highest rate in nearly a year and a half, as reported by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday.
Manufacturing output prices increased by 3.8% year-over-year in April, surpassing the 2.0% rise observed in March. The trend of rising prices has been ongoing since November 2023.
This inflation rate is the highest recorded since November 2022, which also saw a 3.8% increase.
A significant surge was observed in factory gate prices for chemicals and chemical products, which soared by 23.0% annually in April. Beverages also experienced a substantial increase, with prices rising by 9.0%. Conversely, wholesale prices for food products declined by 6.6%.
Domestic sales prices fell by 2.2% year-over-year in April, whereas export market prices rose by 4.2%.
Additionally, the data revealed a sharp annual decline of 29.5% in wholesale electricity prices in April. Prices for construction products also saw a drop, decreasing by 1.4%.
On a monthly basis, wholesale prices showed a rebound, increasing by 0.8% after experiencing a 0.9% decline in March.