Producer price output inflation strong, but input inflation weak

Producer Price Indices (PPI) data for the December quarter showed input prices fell 2.2% in the December quarter from the September quarter, but were still up 9.7% from a year ago. Wholesale trade prices fell 11.7% from the previous quarter with lower crude oil prices a major driver in this fall. However, output price inflation was still relatively strong at 1.4% for the quarter and 9.9% for the year. For some reason, the dairy product manufacturing index rose 19.2% in the December quarter, despite slumping global dairy commodity prices. The full details are available here at Statistics NZ.