Prices received by New Zealand producers, as measured by the output producers price index (PPI), rose 0.3 percent in the June 2012 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. The input PPI, representing the prices of goods and services used by New Zealand producers, rose 0.6 percent. "Higher electricity prices were the largest contributor to both the output and input PPI rises in the June 2012 quarter," prices manager Chris Pike said. "For the electricity and gas supply industry the output price index rose 10.7 percent and the input price index rose 8.2 percent. These increases were mainly due to lower hydro-storage ... (full story)