Industrial production prices in Malta rose by 1.5 per cent in the period under review while those in Luxembourg were up 0.1 per cent, according to Eurostat.
The sharpest drops were recorded in Lithuania (-11.3 per cent), Belgium (-9.6 per cent) and Spain (-8.7 per cent).
The industrial producer prices decreased by 5.0 per cent in the euro area and by 4.6 per cent in the EU when comparing this May to the same month last year.
In May 2020, the third month still marked by COVID-19 containment measures in most member states, the industrial producer prices fell, compared with April 2020, by 0.6 per cent in the euro area and by 0.5 per cent in the EU. In April 2020, prices decreased by 2.0 per cent in the euro area and by 1.9 per cent in the EU.
In this case, the largest decreases in industrial producer prices were recorded in Belgium (-4.6 per cent), Slovakia (-1.7 per cent) and Lithuania (‑1.3 per cent), while the only increases were observed in Greece (+1.2 per cent), Estonia (+0.7 per cent) and Czechia (+0.4 per cent).
Eurostat also reported that, this May, the euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent, up from 7.3 per cent in April 2020. The EU unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent in May 2020, up from 6.6 per cent in April 2020.
The EU statistical office estimates that 14.366 million men and women in the EU, including 12.146 million in the euro area, were unemployed in May. Compared with April 2020, the number of the unemployed increased by 253,000 in the EU and by 159,000 in the euro area.
