“Food prices rose in October after falling for two consecutive months” says Filip Hellberg, statistician at Statistics Sweden.

In brief

• Compared to September, food prices increased in October.
• Electricity prices rose from September to October and were higher than in October last year.
• Interest expenses for owned-occupied housing and tenant-owned apartments decreased from September to October.
• Prices for package holidays rose compared to October a year ago.
  
  

Higher food pirices in October

The total price development from September to October was an increase by 0.3 percent. In the corresponding period last year, prices increased by 0.2 percent.

In October, there were several minor price changes. More noticeable, food prices increased where confectionary and ice cream contributed the most. Moreover, prices rose within transport services, including prices for international flights and railway travels. Electricity prices also went up while interest rates for owned-occupied houses and tenant-owned apartment decreased.

Contributions to the inflation rate in October

The inflation rate according to the CPI, that is, the change in the CPI from the corresponding month last year, was 0.9 percent in October. This was unchanged from the previous month.

Electricity prices rose and were 21.7 percent higher than October last year. Moreover, rents for rental apartments were higher than the corresponding month last year. Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages also went up. There among, coffee and cocoa as well as confectionary and ice cream contributed the most. There were also price increases within package holidays as well as restaurant visits and accommodation services.

The price increases were counteracted by lower costs for interest expenses for owner-occupied houses and tenant-owned apartments which contributed by a 1.8 percent decrease to the inflation according to the CPI. There were also lower prices on fuel.

The inflation rate according to the CPIF, which unlike the CPI is not affected by changes in interest rates on household mortgages, was 3.1 percent in October, which it also was in September. The inflation rate for CPIF calculated excluding energy (CPIF-XE), was 2.8 percent in October, which can be compared with 2.7 percent in September.

Different measures of inflation

Statistics Sweden calculates different inflation measures for different purposes. The CPIF is the Riksbank’s target variable, while CPI is the measure used for purposes of compensation. The CPIF includes the same goods and services as CPI. The difference between the CPI and the CPIF is that the latter measure holds interest rates for household’s mortgages constant. Consequently, the effect of changed interest rates for household’s mortgages is only captured by the CPI and not the CPIF.

Additional to the CPI and the CPIF, the HICP is also calculated. The HICP is a harmonized measure of inflation used within the EU cooperation. Another index that is calculated each month is CPIF-XE (the CPIF excluding energy products) which is often used as a measure of underlying inflation.

Updated classification and reference year for the Swedish CPI

As from January 2026 the Swedish CPI will change reference year, from 1980 to 2020. At the same time the classification will be updated from COICOP 1999 to COICOP 2018. More information is available here:

Updated classification and reference year for the Swedish CPI

CPI flash estimate: a preliminary indicator

The CPI flash estimate is a preliminary indicator for the aggregated inflation that is published five working days before the regular publication of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Sometimes the CPI flash estimate can deviate from the regular CPI. For more information, please see:

Information about the CPI flash estimate

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