5 March 2010

2010- n° 66

The prices of oil and raw materials decreased in February Prices of oil and raw material imports - February 2010

In February, oil prices fell by 3.4% after rising 2.4% in January. The price of barrel settled at $73.6. Compared to February 2009, it rose by 70.5%.

Prices for non-energy commodities imported by France declined also (-2.6% after +3.3% in January).

In February, the price of oil from the North Sea (Brent) declined in dollars (-3.4% after +2.4% in January). The increases in U.S. inventories of gasoline and crude oil weighed on oil prices. In euros, the price increased slightly (+0.8%) due to the depreciation of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar (-4.2%).

In February, prices of industrial materials in foreign currencies decreased by 1.5% due to declining prices of minerals (-5.1%). Indeed, prices of non-ferrous metals declined (-5.7%), with the exception of nickel (+2.9%). Prices of precious metals all decreased (-3.8%).

In contrast, prices of agro-industrial materials rose (+8.9%), includind wood sawn coniferous (+5.7%).

In February, prices of raw food in foreign currencies continued to drop (-4.3% after –0.9% in January). Prices of tropical beverages declined (-8.3%) as a result of such? decline in/pulled by tea (-17.9 %) and cocoa (-8.9 %). Oilseeds prices declined further (-3.7 %), in conjunction with the falling prices of olive oil (-3.1 %) and soybean (-3.9 % for soybeans and -5.5 % for soybean meal). Prices of cereals decresead also (-5.7 %). Similary, the price of sugar declined (-6.3 %), due to better than expected production in India.

Revisions

As every year in March, weighting coefficients have been updated for the current year, leading to a revision of aggregate indices for the month of January. Thus, the overall index has been revised downwards 1.2% in January 2010.