A decrease in Irish beef production helped reduce producer inflation in January. Factory gate prices decreased by 0.5 per cent over the month, data from the Central Statistics Office show today.
A decrease in the number of slaughterings at Irish beef plants following the latest consumer concerns about BSE depressed the producer price index.
The fall in the January means that the annual rate of producer price inflation is now running at 3.8 per cent compared to 4.5 per cent at the end of December 2000.
Wholesale petrol prices fell by 7.9 per cent in January but are still 12.8 per cent higher than a year ago.
