Swiss Producer & Import Prices Fall

(RTTNews) - Switzerland's producer and import prices declined in January due to the fall in prices of petroleum products and pharmaceutical preparations, the Federal Statistical Office reported Monday.

The producer and import price index posted a monthly fall of 0.2 percent in January, the same rate of decline as seen in December. Prices dropped for the ninth consecutive month.

Within total, producer prices dropped 0.2 percent and import prices slid 0.5 percent in January.

Falling prices were reported in the producer price index for electricity, irradiation, electromedical and electrotherapeutic equipment, petroleum products and slaughter pigs.

Meanwhile, petroleum products, pharmaceutical preparations and petroleum and natural gas in particular were responsible for a fall in the import price index, the statistical office said.

On a yearly basis, the producer and import price index registered a decrease of 2.2 percent in January, sharper than the 1.8 percent fall seen in December. Producer prices and import prices were down 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.