April 24 (Reuters) – A spike in energy costs caused Spanish industrial prices to rise at their fastest rate in a year in March after falling for four consecutive months, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Friday.
Over the 12 months through March, industrial prices rose by 3.4%, a considerable increase from February’s revised 6.9% decrease.
Industrial prices changes tend to anticipate consumer prices as companies transfer some higher costs to customers, ultimately fuelling inflation.
The rate was skewed by energy prices, which grew at a rate of 7.9%. That was 30 percentage points faster than in February, when they decreased by 22.1%.
That was mostly due to a 46.3% month-on-month spike in petrol refining prices, as well as a smaller uptick of electricity distribution and gas prices, INE said.
Prices of crude futures are about 45% higher than before the start of the war in the Middle East, as fears of a renewed military escalation grow.
Industrial prices rose 6.5% in March from February, INE said.
(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by Emma Pinedo and Toby Chopra)
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