The producer and import price index (PPI) in Switzerland rose 0.3% in September compared with the previous month, reaching 100.7 points. This is according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in its periodic survey published on Thursday, October 15, 2026, as reported by the AWP agency on Allnews. Year on year, however, the index shows a decline of 0.2%.

What is driving the increase

According to the federal statisticians, the monthly rise rests mainly on three product groups: mineral oils and their derivatives, computers, and cars and spare parts.

The survey, as reported, does not detail the quantified contribution of each of these groups, nor the trend in other product categories. Nor does it specify the reference year of the index. On this basis, it is therefore not possible to say to what extent the September increase is concentrated on these items alone.

A month up, a year down

The two published figures do not measure the same thing. The monthly change (+0.3%) describes the movement in prices between August and September. The annual change (−0.2%) compares September with the same month last year: over this period, producer and import prices remain slightly below their level of a year ago.

A rise over a single month is not enough to establish a trend. The available data do not make it possible to say whether the movement observed in September will continue in the coming months.

A leading indicator, not a forecast

The PPI is considered a leading indicator of inflation: it tracks prices upstream, at the production and import stage, before any changes are passed on, or not, to the prices paid by consumers. The index describes what has happened; it does not in itself constitute an inflation forecast.

What this survey suggests for consumer prices, and for monetary policy, is therefore a matter of interpretation. Neither the FSO, in what is reported of its publication, nor the dispatch makes any projection on this subject. A monthly rise in upstream prices may signal coming pressure on downstream prices, but the decline recorded over one year calls for caution in reading this single figure. The FSO's next publications will show whether September marks a change of direction or a passing movement.

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