U.S. property and casualty insurance price declines averaged 12percent last month and continued across all lines, falling from 12percent to 4 percent depending on category, MarketScout insuranceexchange reported.

The Dallas-based firm said its barometer showed property,business interruption, workers' compensation, employment practicesliability and small account premiums all softened further, ascompared to March 2007.

Jumbo accounts had a 1 percent premium increase from last month,when the decline was down 13 percent. This April it was down 12percent, The same numbers applied to general liability. Excessliability was down only 11 percent in April compared with 12percent for March placements, MarketScout found.

Richard Kerr, MarketScout chairman and chief executive officer,said, "Insurers continue to aggressively seek new business bybroadening coverages and decreasing premium.

"Only the most disciplined, mature companies are maintaining amoderate approach," he said. "Many new insurers don't have thatluxury because they raised capital based upon pro forma businessmodels, which assumed certain levels of premium to amortize theexpenses related to staffing, automation, rating and claimssystems."

Mr. Kerr said the firms that counted on those premium levels"are forced to price aggressively in order to write enough businessto justify their fixed processing and administration expenses. Ifthey don't write the business, they will certainly make aloss."

Those companies, he said, "justify their low rates by assumingthe premium volume will at least help amortize their expenses andperhaps they will even get lucky and generate a profit--a verydangerous game indeed."

The decreases for April 2007, broken down by coverage class,industry class and account size, were as follows:

By coverage class

Commercial Property--12 percent

Business Interruption--11 percent

Inland Marine--8 percent

General Liability--12 percent

Umbrella/Excess--11 percent

Commercial Auto--7 percent

Workers' Compensation--13 percent

Professional Liability--8 percent

Directors and Officers liability--7 percent

Employment Practices Liability--11 percent

Fiduciary--5 percent

Crime--5 percent

Surety--4percent

By Account Size

Small accounts, up to $25,000--10 percent

Medium accounts, $25,001-$250,000--10 percent

Large accounts, $250,000-$1,000,000--12 percent

Jumbo accounts, over $1,000,000--12 percent

By Industry Class

Manufacturing--13 percent

Contracting--9 percent

Service--12 percent

Habitational--10 percent

Public entity--10 percent

Transportation--7 percent

Energy--11 percent

MarketScout compiles its barometer with data from an electronicinsurance exchange which underwrites and distributes hundreds ofproduct lines to its 58,000-member agency network across theU.S.

Its findings are also supported by surveys conducted by TheNational Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. Thesesurveys were conducted during institutes held in April.

MarketScout exchange platform is online athttp://www.marketscout.com.