BRUSSELS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Euro zone producer prices edged up in December against the previous month and registered a smaller-than-expected decline versus a year earlier, despite a downward pull from cheaper energy, data showed on Tuesday.
Prices at factory gates in the 16-country area rose 0.1 percent month-on-month and fell 2.9 percent year-on-year, the European Union's statistics office said.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected no change in prices month-on-month and a 3.0 percent annual fall.
In November, prices rose by a revised 0.2 percent month-on-month and dipped 4.4 percent year-on-year.
Prices of intermediate, capital as well as durable and non-durable consumer goods all rose 0.1 percent on the month and only energy prices fell, by 0.2 percent.
Producer prices are important to the European Central Bank because they show inflationary pressure, or the reverse, early in the pipeline. The ECB, which wants annual consumer inflation to be just below 2 percent, meets on interest rates on Thursday. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)