Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Wholesale Price Index December 2024

Wholesale electricity prices rose by almost 54% in the 12 months to December 2024

Online ISSN: 2009-5198
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Wholesale electricity prices fell by 6.2% in the month to December 2024 but were 53.9% higher than December 2023 and 64.7% lower than the peak that occurred in August 2022.

  • Domestic producer prices for manufactured goods were on average 1.4% higher in December 2024 when compared with a year earlier, while producer prices for exported goods were up by 3.5%. Overall, manufacturing producer prices were 3.3% higher in the year.

  • Producer prices for food products increased by 4.2% in the 12 months to December 2024, while the Food Products, Beverages & Tobacco Index was up by 3.4%.

  • Some of the most notable changes in producer prices for food products over the 12 months to December 2024 were: Dairy Products (+9.8%), Meat & Meat Products (+5.0%), Other Food Products (+3.6%), and Grain Milling, Starches & Animal Feeds (-3.9%).

  • The most notable changes in other producer prices in the year to December 2024 were: Mining & Quarrying (+3.7%), Wearing Apparel (+3.0%) Chemicals & Chemical Products (-13.5%), and Rubber & Plastic Products (-3.3%).

  • Wholesale prices for construction products grew by 0.1% in the month to December 2024 and rose by 1.0% in the 12 months since December 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (22 January 2025) published the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for December 2024.

Commenting on the release, Deirdre Toher, Statistician in the Prices Division, said:

“Wholesale price inflation showed an increase in December 2024 with a 0.6% growth in the overall Producer Price Index for manufacturing industries in the month. The price index for export sales was up by 0.5% since November 2024, while the index for home sales was up 0.4% in the month. Producer prices for products sold on the domestic market were 1.4% higher in December 2024 compared with December 2023. In the 12 months to December 2024, export producer prices rose by 3.5% while overall producer prices were up by 3.3%.

Electricity Prices

Wholesale electricity prices fell by 6.2% in December 2024 when compared with November 2024 and were 53.9% higher than December 2023. They have fallen by 64.7% when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022. The annual average price of wholesale electricity in 2024 was 11.0% lower than the annual average price in 2023.

Construction Products

The All Materials Index for construction products increased by 0.1% in December 2024 and rose by 1.0% in the 12 months since December 2023. The Building & Construction Index (i.e. Materials and Wages) was unchanged in the month and was 2.0% higher than the same month last year (See Tables 3 and 4)."

Headline Table and Graph

Wholesale Price Index- December 2024
 Price index (Year ‘21=100)% monthly change% annual change
Oct 2024107.71.6%-1.7%
Nov 2024109.71.9%2.1%
Dec 2024110.40.6%3.3%
Output Price Index
Jan 20225.3
Feb 20223.5
Mar 20226.4
Apr 20227.9
May 202211.9
Jun 202212
Jul 202212.4
Aug 202210.8
Sep 202212.6
Oct 202213.6
Nov 20227.1
Dec 20224.5
Jan 20234.9
Feb 20235.5
Mar 20233.5
Apr 2023-0.8
May 2023-2.5
Jun 2023-2.4
Jul 2023-6.9
Aug 2023-3.9
Sep 2023-3.5
Oct 2023-5
Nov 2023-2.3
Dec 2023-1.2
Jan 2024-0.1
Feb 20241.6
Mar 2024-0.1
Apr 20243.3
May 20240.9
Jun 20241.5
Jul 20242.6
Aug 2024-0.1
Sep 2024-2.6
Oct 2024-1.7
Nov 20242.1
Dec 20243.3
HomeExport
Jan 202197.397.8
Feb 202198.599.2
Mar 202198.799.2
Apr 202198.998.8
May 202199.498.1
Jun 202199.698.2
Jul 2021100.4100.1
Aug 2021100.6100.4
Sep 2021100.7100.2
Oct 2021101.3101.7
Nov 2021101.5102.7
Dec 2021102.9103.6
Jan 2022103.4103.2
Feb 2022104.7102.5
Mar 2022106.1105.4
Apr 2022108.7106.4
May 2022109.5110
Jun 2022110.2110.1
Jul 2022112.1112.5
Aug 2022113111
Sep 2022115.1112.6
Oct 2022115.4115.4
Nov 2022115.1109.4
Dec 2022115.1107.5
Jan 2023116.3107.5
Feb 2023116.4107.5
Mar 2023115.7108.5
Apr 2023115.6104.8
May 2023115.5106.2
Jun 2023115.4106.7
Jul 2023113.9103.8
Aug 2023114.2106.2
Sep 2023114.5108.3
Oct 2023114.5109.1
Nov 2023114.2106.7
Dec 2023114.5106.1
Jan 2024115.1107.6
Feb 2024115.2109.5
Mar 2024114.8108.4
Apr 2024115.2108.7
May 2024115.3107.4
Jun 2024115.5108.5
Jul 2024115.5106.6
Aug 2024115.4105.9
Sep 2024115.4105.1
Oct 2024115.6106.9
Nov 2024115.6109.2
Dec 2024116.1109.8

Wholesale prices for construction products increased by 1.0% over the 12 months to December 2024

Notable annual increases and decreases in construction products as shown in Table 3 include:

  • Concrete Blocks & Bricks: 7.9%
  • Other Structural Steel: 6.9%
  • Sand & Gravel: 6.6%
  • Cement: 5.7%
  • Reinforcing Metal: -11.0%

The Building & Construction Index (i.e. Materials and Wages) remained constant in the month to December 2024 and rose by 2.0% in the 12 months to December 2024. This index combines the All Materials Index with a measure of the change in wages in the Construction sector to provide an overall index for input construction costs (See Table 4).

Wholesale electricity prices increased by 53.9% annually

There was a decrease of 6.2% in the price of wholesale electricity in December 2024. The price of electricity was 53.9% higher than in December 2023 and was 64.7% lower when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022.

The price index for all energy fuels rose by 0.6% in December 2024 and fell by -2.1% in the year since December 2023.

The overall Energy Products Index was down by 4.8% since November 2024 but was 36.0% higher when compared with December 2023 (See Figure 3 and Table 5).

Wholesale Price Index - Electricity
Jan 202157.8
Feb 202142.5
Mar 202153.8
Apr 202163.1
May 202171.4
Jun 202170.1
Jul 2021105.8
Aug 202197
Sep 2021144.3
Oct 2021158.4
Nov 2021151
Dec 2021184.8
Jan 2022148.6
Feb 2022129.3
Mar 2022216.4
Apr 2022161.1
May 2022105.7
Jun 2022134.2
Jul 2022197.2
Aug 2022286
Sep 2022209
Oct 2022100.4
Nov 2022105.6
Dec 2022204.1
Jan 2023119.7
Feb 2023117.5
Mar 2023107.2
Apr 202392.7
May 202377.6
Jun 202386.4
Jul 202371
Aug 202378.6
Sep 202382.4
Oct 202392.6
Nov 202390.7
Dec 202365.7
Jan 202473.7
Feb 202462.4
Mar 202464
Apr 202465.3
May 202479.5
Jun 202479.5
Jul 202481.9
Aug 202474.1
Sep 202483.2
Oct 202491.2
Nov 2024107.8
Dec 2024101.1
Table 1 Manufacturing Industries Output Price Indices (excluding VAT)

Annual Average Price Changes in Producer Prices for 2024

The annual average of the overall index for the Food, Beverages & Tobacco sector grew by 0.2% in 2024 in comparison to the annual average of 2023. The annual average index for Food Products rose by 0.3% in 2024 while Beverages were down by 0.2% relative to their corresponding 2023 annual averages.

Within the Food sector, annual average prices grew for Dairy Products (+4.8%), and Bakery & Farinaceous Products (+3.2%) compared with 2023 annual averages. Annual average prices fell for Grain Milling, Starches & Animal Feeds (-4.3%), and Vegetable & Animal Oils & Fats (-2.7%) relative to 2023 annual averages (See Table 2).

Table 2 Industrial Producer Price Indices (excluding VAT)

Annual Average Price Changes in Building & Construction Materials for 2024

Prices in some construction materials showed changes during 2024. Some timber prices decreased, with the 2024 average price for Rough Timber (including plain sawn) down 7.1% on the 2023 average. Prices for some Steel Products increased while others decreased. The overall category Structural Steel & Reinforcing Metal annual average was down by 8.0% relative to the annual average of 2023. The annual average of the All Materials Index increased by 0.3% on the 2023 annual average (See Table 3).

Table 3 Detailed Wholesale Price Indices (excluding VAT) for Building and Construction Materials

For more information on the categories of products in Table 3 see Description of Products for Building and Construction.

Table 4 Capital Goods Price Indices (excluding VAT)

Annual Average Price Changes in Energy Products for 2024

There were decreases in wholesale electricity prices during 2024, with annual average prices down 11.0% compared with the 2023 annual average. This comes after a fall of 45.8% during 2023. Some other wholesale energy fuels rose in price, and the annual average index for All Energy Products was down by 8.1% on the 2023 annual average index (See Table 5).

Table 5 Wholesale Price Indices (excluding VAT) for Energy Products (i.e. Fuels purchased by Manufacturing Industry)

Annual Average Price Changes in Producer Prices for home, export and total sales for 2024

Overall prices received by Irish manufacturers increased by 0.9% in 2024 following on from a decline of 1.4% in 2023. The price index for goods sold on the home market went up by 0.3% in 2024, having increased by 4.0% in 2023. The price index for exported goods rose by 0.9% in 2024 following a fall of 1.9% in the previous year (See Table 6).

Producer prices were affected by a number of factors during 2024 including fluctuations in the Euro exchange rate and market supply and demand. The average exchange rate for the US dollar and Sterling are shown in Table 7 below. Other global factors including the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 also had a major effect on market supply and demand during the year.

Table 6 Annual average % change in Producer Price Indices for home, export and total sales, 2021-2024

Table 7 Annual average exchange rates 2021-2024

Why you can Trust the CSO

Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.