Ireland:Man-made fibres prices increase in April

Monthly factory gate prices remained unchanged in April 2008. This compares to a decrease of 0.3%recorded for April 2007. As a result, the annual percentage change showed a decrease of 4.0% in April 2008, compared with a decrease of 4.3% in March 2008.
In the month, the price index for export sales decreased by 0.4% while the index for home sales increased by 1.6%. In the year there was a decrease in the price index for export sales of 6.4% and an increase of 6.3% in respect of the price index for home sales.
In the month the most significant changes were increases in other chemical products (incl. man-made fibres) (+3.1%), while there were decreases in Basic chemicals (-0.7%). Contributing to the annual change were decreases in Basic chemicals (-6.3%).
A further analysis of Wholesale price changes by sector of use shows that:
• Year on year, the price of Capital Goods increased by 3.2%, while there was a monthly price increase of 0.1%.