Services Producer Prices were on average 4.3% higher in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2024 when compared with the same period in 2023.
The most notable changes in the 12 months to Q4 2024 were in the Advertising & Other Professional Activities (+6.2%), Information & Communication (+6.0%), Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy (+4.1%) and Employment & Human Resource Activities (+3.8%) sectors.
Services Producer Prices recorded a quarterly decrease of 2.1% in Q4 2024, compared with a quarterly increase of 2.2% in Q3 2024 (See Table 1).
The most notable quarterly price changes were in Real Estate & Rental (-11.2%), Transport (-10.4%), and Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy (+6.0%) (See Table 2b).
The Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) was previously based on a limited sample of services covering a select range of services sectors. This resulted in high volatility. To meet this challenge and increased regulatory requirements, as of Q1 2024, the coverage of SPPI was expanded to cover all the traded services sectors, excluding Wholesale & Retail Trade. The methodology was revised, and the series has also been rebased to 2021=100. This note published with the Q1 2024 SPPI release contains further details about the SPPI Rebase 2021=100. As of Q1 2024, the SPPI releases no longer include a table on Contributions to Annual Change in order to increase the number of published subindices.
As the SPPI further expands the number of product prices for services, its volatility will reduce (i.e. fewer large changes in the values of the indices), and it will become more representative of the wider sector. The Services Producer Prices Redevelopment - Information Page has more information.
Figure 1 presents the annual change for the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) from Q4 2022 through to Q4 2024.
| Period | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Q4 2022 | 2.3 |
| Q1 2023 | 3.4 |
| Q2 2023 | 3.1 |
| Q3 2023 | 2.5 |
| Q4 2023 | 4.9 |
| Q1 2024 | 4.3 |
| Q2 2024 | 5.1 |
| Q3 2024 | 7.4 |
| Q4 2024 | 4.3 |
Figure 2 shows the annual price changes for several NACE sectors in Q4 2024.
| X-axis label | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Transport | 1.6 |
| Warehousing & Transportation Support | 2.7 |
| Postal & Courier | 3.1 |
| Hospitality | 2.7 |
| Information & Communication | 6 |
| Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy | 4.1 |
| Architecture & Engineering | 2.6 |
| Advertising & Other Professional Activities | 6.2 |
| Employment & Human Resource Activities | 3.8 |
| Security & Building | 1.6 |
| Travel & Office Admin | -1.8 |
| Real Estate & Rental | 0.7 |
| X-axis label | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Freight and Removal by Road | 10.1 |
| Sea and Coastal Transport | 23.1 |
| Air Transport | 24.8 |
| Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling | 17 |
| Postal and Courier | 16.4 |
| Computer Programming and Consultancy | 0.7 |
| Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy | 3 |
| Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing | -0.5 |
| Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research | 0 |
| Employment and Human Resource Activities | 7.2 |
| Security and Investigation | 8.9 |
| Industrial and Building Cleaning | 4.8 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 March 2025) published the Services Producer Price Index Quarter 4 (Q4) 2024.
The Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) 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 Background Notes).
Commenting on the release, Diarmuid Martin, Statistician in the Prices Division, said: "Services Prices charged to businesses in October, November and December (Q4) 2024 were on average 4.3% higher when compared with the same quarter in 2023 (See Table 1 & Figure 1). In comparison, an annual percentage change of 4.9% was recorded in Q4 2023 (See Table 1).
An increase of 6.2% in Advertising & Other Professional Activities coincided with a price growth in a range of services industries including Information & Communication (+6.0%) and Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy (+4.1%), although these changes were constrasted with a price decline in Travel & Office Admin (-1.8%) when compared with the same quarter in 2023 (See Table 2b & Figure 2)."