Official figures show that factory gate prices rose sharply in November. The Central Statistics Office said the manufacturing output price index - which measures prices of goods before they reach the consumer - rose by 1.3% from October. This brought the annual rate of increase to 5.2%.
A breakdown showed that prices of office machinery and computers rose by 4.2% in the month, while chemicals prices climbed by 3.3%. But prices of meat and meat products dropped 3.1%.
A breakdown of wholesale prices showed that prices of building and construction materials rose at an annual rate of 3.5% in November, while energy products were 10% higher. But prices of petroleum fuels are down 7.3% over the year after an 8.3% drop in November alone.
