Slovakia’s industrial producer prices fell on annual basis for the tenth straight month in December 2013 declining by 2.3%, the same as in November, data from the statistics office showed.

Industrial producer prices on the domestic market decreased by 1.7% y/y in December, softening their decline from 2% the month before. The steepest drop was recorded in coke and refined petroleum products, where prices fell 6.3% y/y, following a 10.6% annual drop in November.

Export producer prices fell 2.7% in December, after decreasing 2.5% in the previous month.

Producer prices are a key preliminary indicator for the dynamics in consumer prices, so the data suggests that consumer inflation would remain muted in the near term. In December, Slovakia’s annual headline inflation eased to 0.4% from 0.5% the month before.

On a monthly basis, producer prices edged down by 0.3% in December, after falling by 0.6% in November. On the domestic market, prices were 0.1% lower than in November, when they dropped by 0.7% m/m. Export prices moved down by 0.4% m/m in December, following a 0.5% decrease a month earlier.

Agricultural producer prices decreased by 10.4% y/y in December, following 16.3% y/y decline the month before. Crop prices went down by 16.2% y/y, compared to a 25.3% y/y decline in November. The prices of animal products fell 2.6% y/y last month, following a 1.8% y/y decline in November.

Prices of construction works rose 1.2% y/y in December, while prices of construction materials and components dipped 2.1% y/y.