SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- An index of final Australian producer prices fell 0.3% in the first quarter of 2012 from the fourth quarter of 2011 and rose 1.4% from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The index measures prices of capital and consumer items to final buyers.

The fall in the index in the first quarter was mainly due to falls in the prices received for other agriculture, the bureau said.

The bureau also published indexes measuring prices of goods and services at a preliminary and intermediate stage of the production cycle.

The stage 1, or preliminary price index, which covers inputs into the production of intermediate commodities, rose 0.1% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, and increased 3.4% from a year earlier.

The stage 2, or intermediate price index, which covers inputs into the production of final commodities, rose 0.3% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, and increased 2.8% from a year earlier.

=========================================

Period On-Quarter On-Year

1Q 12 -0.3% +1.4%

4Q 11 +0.3% +2.9%

1Q 11 +1.2% +2.9%

=========================================

-By Enda Curran, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4687; enda.curran@dowjones.com