Spanish industrial prices annual decline slowed down slightly in the period in November from October, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Tuesday.

The industrial prices fell 7.4% in the 12 months through November down from a revised 7.7% price contraction in the period through October, INE said. Initial data for October showed an 7.8% decrease.

Industrial prices fell 2% in November from October, INE said. Prices had fallen 2.3% in November 2022.

Energy costs are leading the industrial price contraction so far this year as they recover from a jump in 2021 and 2022 that pushed prices at factory gates to record highs in mid 2022.

Energy costs in October decreased 23% annually and 6.4% monthly mainly due to cheaper electricity and refined oil products. Intermediate goods prices fell 0.4% from one month ago.

Companies tend to pass on industrial price rises to customers, ultimately fuelling consumer inflation. The effect of industrial price declines are not as automatic, though.

Spain's annual inflation rate through November was 3.2%, one of the lowest in the euro zone, the INE said earlier this month. (Reporting by Inti Landauro, Editing by William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)