Industrial prices below forecast

Industrial prices rose less than economists' forecasts in the March quarter, the Producer Price Index shows.

Statistics New Zealand said yesterday rising electricity prices were the driving force of price rises for the inputs and outputs indices.

Output prices rose 0.7 per cent and input prices rose 0.9 per cent against forecasts of a 1.6 per cent rise in inputs and a 0.9 per cent rise in outputs. The PPI measures the average level of industrial input prices (excluding labour) and output prices at the farm and factory gate.