Producer Price Index in Romania

Tracks the change in the factory-gate prices of industrial goods made and sold in Romania. Published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), it covers mining, manufacturing and energy but excludes construction, taxes and transport and marketing costs.

Romania's INS compiles it from a survey of selling prices across a sample of industrial establishments, building an index (base year = 100) that is periodically rebased. The methodology is harmonised with Eurostat and it is released as monthly and year-on-year changes.

It is a leading indicator of inflation, since rising producer prices tend to feed through to consumer prices with a lag. In Romania, whose leu sits outside the euro, a stronger reading weighs on the National Bank of Romania's interest-rate decisions.

To read the underlying trend it helps to strip out energy, the most volatile component. The data are subject to revision in later releases, and the headline can blend domestic-market and export prices depending on the breakdown used.