Wholesale prices fall for second month as focus remains on range of building materials

The CSO figures show that the price of wholesale electricity slid by 27.6% in December from November, and was almost 68% lower compared with December 2022.

Wholesale prices fell for a second month in a row in December, helped by much lower electricity prices, but the focus remains on a large range of products including some building materials that were still rising sharply.

The latest wholesale price figures from the Central Statistics Office show wholesale prices across the board fell slightly in the month, and were 2.1% higher compared with December 2022.

Wholesale prices for all construction products were up slightly on a year-on-year basis, but the CSO also highlighted the 12% price rise in so-called other steel products, a 10% rise in paints, oils, and varnishes, and a 9.4% increase in the wholesale price of sand and gravel in the same period.

Large price falls were posted for treated timber, down 31.6% in the same period, as well as for reinforcing metal and other structural steel materials.

Following sharp falls in European wholesale gas prices, analysts continue to watch closely recent cuts in the energy bills for households and businesses. They are monitoring whether energy firms are passing on the full benefits of the sharp falls in their raw material costs to consumers.

The CSO figures show that the price of wholesale electricity slid by 27.6% in December from November, and was almost 68% lower compared with December 2022.

“Wholesale electricity prices were at their lowest point in December 2023 since April 2021,” said CSO statistician Jillian Delaney.

Meanwhile, the annual rate of British grocery price inflation was little changed at 6.8% in January, a potentially worrying sign for Irish supermarket prices.

The January figures for Irish supermarkets from the same market researcher, Kantar are published next week.

In December, the Irish grocery price inflation was running at over 7%, Kantar said earlier this month.