1.2 Cost of materials and services
| in CHF mn | 2023 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costs of material | 51.9 | 61.6 | ||
| Cost of services | 101.5 | 102.6 | ||
| Cost of merchandise | 0.9 | 1.2 | ||
| Total | 154.4 | 165.4 |
The decline in the cost of materials is almost all attributable to the lower expenditure on the purchase of paper (CHF -9.3 million). The average currency-adjusted price of paper was around 20 per cent down on the previous year, while the volume of paper procured was only down slightly. Cost of services, which includes directly attributable costs such as external staff, IT costs (hosting and licences) and media content expenses, remained stable.