Excluding the energy sector, industrial producer prices rose by only 13.1 percent.
(Photo: imago images/agefotostock)
Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt Manufacturers in the euro zone are no longer raising their prices quite as much, signaling that high inflation is dying down. Producer prices in industry rose by 27.1 percent in November compared to the same month last year, according to the statistics office Eurostat on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a slightly stronger increase of 27.5 percent. In October the increase was still 30.5 percent and in September it was 41.9 percent.
In the energy sector there was an increase of 55.7 percent in November compared to the same month of the previous year after an increase of 64.9 percent in October. Excluding the energy sector, industrial producer prices rose by only 13.1 percent.
In October, this figure was 14.0 percent. In the statistics, the prices are listed from the factory gate, i.e. before the products are further processed or sold. You can thus give an early indication of the development of consumer prices.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Inflation in the euro area fell in November for the first time since mid-2021, to 10.1 percent. According to a survey by the Ifo Institute in Munich and the Institute for Swiss Economic Policy, economists expect inflation rates to remain high at a global level. However, inflation expectations have fallen significantly compared to a survey from the previous quarter, the Economic Expert Survey (EES).
declining inflation
For 2023, the expected global inflation rate averages 7.1 percent. That is almost 2.5 percentage points less than the experts expected just three months ago. An inflation rate of 5.4 percent is expected for Western Europe in 2023 and 5.2 percent for North America.
In the longer term, experts expect global inflation rates to decline only slowly from 5.8 percent in 2024 and still 4.5 percent in 2026.
In November, a fall in the price of natural gas and oil, which is likely to be responsible for the weakened inflation expectations of the experts, was also clearly noticeable in Germany’s foreign trade balance.
In relation to the month, the imports of these two energy commodities were calendar and seasonally adjusted 4.4 percent higher than in the same month of the previous year, compared to an increase of 92 percent in the overall period from January to November. This is shown by the data on German foreign trade up to November, which the Federal Statistical Office published on Thursday.
Imports from the Russian Federation in 2022 to November increased by 13.1 percent to 33.7 billion euros. Exports to Russia, on the other hand, fell by 42.2 percent to 13.9 billion euros.
In the last survey, the development of energy was decisive for the decline in prices.
(Photo: dpa)
In November, however, this development weakened thanks to a significant drop in the price of energy commodities. Imports from Russia this month were 12.2 percent lower than in October.
>> Read here: All the latest news about the energy crisis in Newsblog
Total German imports in November were also 1.3 percent lower than a year earlier, while from January to November they were 26.4 percent higher than a year earlier.
Exports fell by 0.3 percent compared to October, less than imports. From January to November, the year-on-year increase was 15 percent. As a result, the surplus in foreign trade rose to EUR 10.8 billion in November for the third month in a row.
More: Uncertainties in the oil market – 2023 could also be a turbulent year for the oil price