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Services Producer Price Index Quarter 4 2023

Services Producer Prices up 0.4% in the year to Quarter 4 2023

Online ISSN: 2009-5139
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Services Producer Prices were on average 0.4% higher in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 1 Figure 1).

  • The most notable changes in the 12 months to Q4 2023 were: Architecture, Engineering & Technical Testing (+10.4%), Employment & Human Resource Activities (+7.6%), Air Transport (+7.5%) and Sea & Coastal Transport (-14.7%) (See Table 2 Figure 2).

  • Services Producer Prices increased by 0.7% in the quarter, which compares with a 1.5% decrease recorded in Q3 2023 (See Table 1).

  • The most notable quarterly price changes were: Air Transport (+7.3%), Sea & Coastal Transport (+3.5%) and Postal & Courier (+1.8%) (See Table 2).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 March 2024) released Services Producer Price Index Quarter 4 (Q4) 2023.

The Services Producer Price Index is a business cycle indicator which provides information on the development of prices for numerous service industries. This information is used for the analysis of inflation and its sources, but also for the deflation of value measures in the service sector (See Editor’s Note below).

Commenting on the release, Mary Heanue, Statistician in the Prices Division, said: "Services Prices charged to businesses in October, November and December (Q4) 2023 were on average 0.4% higher when compared with the same quarter in 2022 (See Table 1 Figure 1). In comparison, no annual percentage change was recorded in Q3 2023 (See Table 1).

A decrease of Computer Programming & Consultancy (-1.3 percentage points) was offset by growth in a range of services industries including Air Transport (+0.6 percentage points) and Architecture, Engineering & Technical Testing (+0.5 percentage points) resulting in an annual price change of 0.4% (See Figure 3 and Table 3).”

Editor's Note

It is worth noting that the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) is an experimental release, with a limited sample of services covering a limited range of services sectors. This means that changes in some of the sub-indices for services sectors are based on prices charged for a small number of services products. This can result in high volatility (i.e. large changes in the values of the indices) which is not always representative of the wider sector.

The SPPI is currently being expanded and its methodology redeveloped. The new series will be rebased to 2021=100 by the end of 2024. The old series are therefore subject to revision. The Services Producer Prices Redevelopment - Information Page has more information.

Tables and Graphs

  Figure 1 presents the annual change for the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) from Q4 2021 through to Q4 2023.

PeriodAnnual % change
Q4 20212.6
Q1 20224.1
Q2 20224
Q3 20223.5
Q4 20222.3
Q1 20232.3
Q2 20231.7
Q3 20230
Q4 20230.4

Figure 2 shows the annual price changes for several NACE sectors in Q4 2023, while Figure 3 shows the contribution of each of these sectors towards the overall annual change in services producer prices.

X-axis labelAnnual % change
Freight and Removal by Road 5.9
Sea and Coastal Transport-14.7
Air Transport7.5
Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling1.7
Postal and Courier3.9
Computer Programming and Consultancy-2.1
Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy1.3
Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing10.4
Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research0
Employment and Human Resource Activities7.6
Security and Investigation-0.9
Industrial and Building Cleaning3.4
X-axis labelAnnual % change
Freight and Removal by Road 10.1
Sea and Coastal Transport23.1
Air Transport24.8
Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling17
Postal and Courier16.4
Computer Programming and Consultancy0.7
Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy3
Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing-0.5
Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research0
Employment and Human Resource Activities7.2
Security and Investigation8.9
Industrial and Building Cleaning4.8
X-axis labelAnnual % Contribution
Freight and Removal by Road 0.19
Sea and Coastal Transport-0.13
Air Transport0.61
Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling0.01
Postal and Courier0.07
Computer Programming and Consultancy-1.29
Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy0.24
Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing0.5
Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research0
Employment and Human Resource Activities0.21
Security and Investigation-0.01
Industrial and Building Cleaning0.03
X-axis labelAnnual % change
Freight and Removal by Road 0.31
Sea and Coastal Transport0.19
Air Transport1.88
Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling0.12
Postal and Courier0.27
Computer Programming and Consultancy0.39
Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy0.46
Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing-0.2
Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research0
Employment and Human Resource Activities0.17
Security and Investigation0.06
Industrial and Building Cleaning0.04
Table 1 Services Producer Price Index (All Sectors)

Table 2 Services Producer Price Index (2015 = 100)

Table 3 Contributions to the overall SPPI annual % change Q4 2023

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