Eurozone producer prices fall for fifth straight month in Feb

In February, producer prices in the euro zone decreased for the fifth consecutive month and by a larger amount than anticipated, virtually exclusively as a result of falling energy costs.

The prices at factory gates in the 20 nations that use the euro decreased by 0.5% month over month in February, representing a 13.2% increase year over year, according to data released on Tuesday by the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

From the 43.4% peak in August, when energy costs were more than triple their level a year earlier, this represents a gradual slowdown.

According to Reuters polled economists, prices would have dropped 0.3% monthly and would have slowed to 13.3% annually.

Despite a 1.6% decline, the energy component was still up 17.4% from a year prior, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Without volatile energy, producer prices were 0.2% higher month-on-month and up 10.2% year-on-year.

Producer prices are an early signal of inflationary trends because their changes are usually transferred onto final consumers.

Consumer inflation dropped by the most on record to 6.3% in March, but underlying inflation hit a new all-time high. The European Central Bank wants to keep inflation at 2.0% and has been raising interest rates repeatedly to curb price growth.