The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that consumer prices in the OECD area fell by 0.1% in the year to June. However, excluding the volatile food and energy components, prices were up 1.7% for the period.

Month-over-month, prices rose by 0.4% in June, compared with a 0.2% gain in May, the OECD noted: “Much of the recent trend inflation has been driven by the volatility in oil prices, which touched record highs over the summer of 2008, highlighting the need for care in interpreting the negative figure for June 2009.”

Consumer prices for energy were down by 15.5% in the year to June, following a fall of 16% in May, it reported. Prices for food were up by 1.8% in the year to June, compared with 2.6% in May.

In Canada, overall inflation recorded a 0.3% drop for the 12 months ended in June, the OECD noted. It also reported that, in the European area, annual consumer inflation was -0.1% in June, down from 0% in May.

In the U.S., the consumer price index fell 1.4% over the year to June, compared with a decline of 1.3% in the year to May. In Japan, consumer prices fell 1.8% in the year to June, compared with a decline of 1.1% in the year to May. Annual inflation was 1.8% in Britain, 0.5% in Italy, 0.1% in Germany, and -0.5% in France.