Industrial companies in the eurozone further increased their prices in August. Compared to the same month in 2020, their products became 13.4 percent more expensive. Prices rose sharply, especially at energy companies.
Now that the recovery from the corona crisis is going fast, shortages of materials, parts and labour are also increasing. In addition, bottlenecks in global supply lead to higher costs for manufacturing companies.
The energy sector, which includes oil and gas companies, increased prices by 32 percent compared to a year earlier. Excluding energy companies, prices rose by an average of 7.4 percent.
Rising prices will contribute to inflation. This is now well above the target of the European Central Bank (ECB), but central bankers still assume that these stronger price increases are temporary. Instead, they would be the result of the restart in many sectors after the crisis, creating scarcity.
