Wholesale electricity prices up 260% last year - CSO

The extent to which the manufacturing sector has been dealing with inflationary pressures is apparent in the latest Wholesale Price Index from the Central Statistics Office.

Wholesale electricity prices were up 260% last year, the report shows, with the wider energy index up 160%.

Rising energy prices have been the main driver of inflation for consumers and businesses over the last year with the rate of consumer price inflation here running at around 5.5%.

Supply chain difficulties and general shortages of materials saw prices for construction materials registering large increases last year too.

Timber prices increased, with the 2021 average price for 'Rough timber' up 43.1%, while 'other' timber increased by 20% on 2020.

There was a hike in prices for steel products too, with structural steel and reinforcing metal up by 17%.

The price of 'other' structural steel increased by 44.7% on the 2020 average.

Overall manufacturing - or 'factory gate' - prices were up 4.5% in the year, the figures show.

However, prices received by Irish producers decreased by 5.3% in 2021 following on from a decrease of 8.7% in 2020, according to the report.

Producer prices were affected by a number of factors during 2021 including fluctuations in the Euro exchange rate and market demand," the report concluded .

"Exchange rates made a significant contribution to price changes during 2021. Other global factors also had a major effect on market demand during the year."