BRUSSELS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Cheaper energy pulled down prices at factory gates in the euro zone in September as expected, data showed on Wednesday, signalling low inflationary pressure despite a nascent economic recovery.
Producer prices in the 16 countries using the euro fell 0.4 percent against August, leaving them 7.7 percent lower than a year earlier, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said.
The data was in line with consensus forecasts by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Cheaper oil served as the main reason behind the monthly and annual declines as energy costs fell 1.9 percent against August and 17.6 percent compared with September 2008.
Producer prices are important to the European Central Bank because they show inflationary pressure, or the reverse, early in the pipeline. Economists say many companies cannot raise prices because of excess capacity and intense competition.
The ECB, which meets to decide on interest rates on Thursday, wants annual consumer price inflation to be just below 2 percent but it was at -0.1 percent in October, the fifth straight month of falling prices.
Economists generally expect the central bank to keep its main interest rate unchanged at a record low of 1 percent until the third quarter of next year. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)