Swiss Producer and Import Prices Rise 0.3% in September, Despite Annual Decline

Swiss producer and import prices rose 0.3% in September from August, even as the overall price level remained below where it stood a year earlier. The combined index reached 100.7 points, with December 2025 set at 100, according to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on October 15.

Compared with September 2025, prices across the domestic-produced and imported goods covered by the index were down 0.2%. The two readings describe different comparisons: prices increased during September but had not fully recovered their level of a year earlier.

September also marked a slower monthly increase than August, when the combined measure rose 0.7% to 100.4 points. The latest result therefore points to continued upward movement in the near term, rather than an acceleration from the previous month’s pace.

Petroleum, computers and vehicles helped lift prices

The FSO identified petroleum products, computers, crude petroleum and natural gas, and motor vehicles and their parts among the product groups showing higher prices in September. The agency’s September producer and import price release establishes the direction of those changes, although the headline announcement does not give a separate percentage increase for every group.

Energy-related goods stand out because they were also prominent in August. That month’s official report cited higher prices for petroleum products and for petroleum and natural gas, alongside chemical products. September’s increase was therefore not an entirely new development in the energy components of the index, even though the mix of goods contributing to the monthly rise changed.

Computers offer one example of that shift. The FSO reported lower import prices for computers in August, whereas computers were among the product groups with rising prices in September’s overall release. This does not, by itself, establish the size of September’s computer-price increase or whether all computer categories moved together.

The mention of vehicles is also broader than a change in the prices consumers pay at car dealerships. The producer and import price statistics capture prices at earlier points in the supply chain. The September report identifies motor vehicles and parts as areas of higher prices, but it does not show that retail vehicle prices increased by the same amount.

Nor does a 0.3% rise in the combined measure mean that each manufacturer or importer faced a 0.3% price increase. The index is an aggregate of differently weighted products. Larger movements in some categories can be offset by smaller gains, stable prices or declines elsewhere. The national figure describes the average change across the products in the statistical measure, not the experience of an individual business.

The yearly decline narrowed despite the monthly increase

The annual comparison improved between August and September, although it remained negative. In August, the FSO reported that combined producer and import prices were 0.7% below their level a year earlier. September’s 0.2% decline represents a narrowing of that annual gap by half a percentage point.

Two consecutive positive monthly readings can coexist with a negative annual rate if prices remain below their level in the comparable month of the preceding year. September’s monthly increase therefore does not mark a return to positive annual producer-price inflation. The annual rate covers a full year, not September alone.

The 100.7 index reading also puts September’s combined prices 0.7% above their December 2025 base. That benchmark tracks changes since the end of last year; it is not interchangeable with the FSO’s September-to-September annual rate. Each comparison starts in a different month.

There was also a change in the index’s statistical base at the start of 2026. The FSO moved to December 2025 = 100 from January onward, replacing the December 2020 base used previously. The rebasing explains why the latest index level is close to 100; it does not mean that Swiss goods suddenly became inexpensive, or that prices before the rebasing can be compared by treating the old and new index points as identical.

For businesses using producer or import price indices to assess purchasing conditions, the detail behind the total remains important. Firms buying fuel, industrial inputs or vehicle components may encounter different price developments from those purchasing other types of goods. The headline index does not quantify the change in any company’s overall costs, margins or selling prices.

Consumer inflation tells a different part of the story

September’s producer and import price increase did not coincide with a monthly rise in Switzerland’s headline Consumer Price Index. In a separate FSO consumer-price release published October 1, the agency said the CPI was unchanged from August at 101.5 points. Consumer prices were 1.0% higher than in September 2025, in contrast with the 0.2% annual decline in the producer and import price measure.

The CPI figures also showed mixed price movements within household spending. Heating oil, petrol and diesel became more expensive, according to the FSO, but price declines for international package holidays, car rentals and car sharing, and hotel and other accommodation services offset the increases in the overall consumer index. Those service categories illustrate why the household inflation measure need not follow goods-related producer and import prices month for month.

Part of the distinction is how the statistics are constructed. For goods sold domestically, the producer price index generally measures prices at the first marketing stage, such as the factory gate. Import prices are measured at the Swiss border, excluding value-added tax, consumption taxes and customs duties. Consumer inflation instead follows the prices of goods and services bought by households, making the two measures related but not interchangeable.

The timing of collection can matter too. Under the FSO’s published methodology, the reference period for producer and import price surveys generally runs from the first through the eighth day of a month. Prices denominated in foreign currencies are converted into Swiss francs using the exchange rate on the first working day of that reference period. These procedures help make monthly comparisons consistent, but they do not establish whether currency movements or a particular global event caused September’s rise.

The figures are useful as an early view of pricing conditions facing Swiss producers and importers, not as a direct forecast for household inflation. Changes in wholesale input costs may be absorbed by companies, passed on later, or offset by other movements in the prices households pay. September’s reports identify where prices moved; they do not establish how much of the producer-price increase will reach consumers.

The FSO is scheduled to publish the October producer and import price figures on November 13, 2026. That release will show whether the monthly increase extended into another month and how the annual comparison developed after September’s smaller decline.