The Italian national statistics bureau Istat reported last week that producer prices fell by 0.2% in June compared with May, but that they were 2.3% higher than in June 2000.

If petroleum prices are removed from the equation, producer prices products were flat on the month and up by 1.6% on the year. The greatest monthly decreases were recorded in electricity, gas and water which were down 1.4%, owing mainly to a fall in the price of gas. Year-on-year, however, energy saw the biggest increase with a rise of 8.1%. Istat reports that in the 12 month period to June, producer climbed by an average 5.3%.

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