In contrast to the past eight months when wholesale trade prices were continuously falling, these stabilized in April this year and even slightly increased by 0.1% on March. In comparison with April last year, however, the wholesale trade price index in April this year was down by 8.1%. A similar big annual drop was last registered in January 1987. Nevertheless, there is now reason to assume that wholesale trade prices stopped falling and are currently stabilizing at a low level.
Wholesale trade prices for solid fuels and mineral oil products were down by 19.5% as compared to April last year and up by 3.0 % on the previous month. In March this year prices had been down by 2.1% on February. Wholesale trade prices for ores, metals and semi-finished metal products were down by 25.1% on April last year and down by 5.2% on March this year.
Prices for corn, seeds and fodder were down by 41.6 % on those in April 2008 (-2.7 % on the previous month). Milk and dairy products, eggs, cooking oils and edible fats were 7.9% less expensive than in April last year, but their prices increased by 0.6% on March this year which was the first increase since September 2008. For fruits, vegetables and potatoes the respective changes were +0.6 % and -0.8 %. 