The prices for primary products have again risen enormously.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin German manufacturers raised their prices again at record speed in September. Due to expensive energy, producer prices increased by an average of 45.8 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. This corresponds to the value in August, where the increase was also 45.8 percent. This is the highest value since the survey began in 1949. Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had expected a slight decline to 44.7 percent.
“The increase in producer prices remains extreme,” said LBBW economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch. And this despite the fact that they increased significantly more slowly at 2.3 percent compared to the previous month than in August at 7.9 percent.
In addition to energy, durable goods and consumables also cost significantly more. “A significant part of this will still reach private households in the coming months,” said Niklasch. “Inflation is high in 2022, it will stay high in 2023.”
Producer prices are considered to be the forerunners for the development of general inflation. In the statistics, the prices are listed from the factory gate – even before the products are further processed or sold.
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Commerzbank economist Ralph Solveen points out that the increase compared to the previous month is largely due to a further rise in energy prices. If this is factored out, the momentum in producer prices is nowhere near as high as in the first half of the year. The prices for intermediate goods have practically stagnated for several months, which Solveen believes is partly due to the recent fall in the prices of most other commodities apart from oil and gas.
Energy costs over 130 percent more
Overall, Solveen sees further upside potential for the inflation rate in the coming months given the recent sharp rise in energy prices. For the other prices, however, the boost seems to be gradually decreasing. In September, consumer prices were 10.0 percent higher than a year earlier.
Energy was by far the main driver behind the increase in producer prices. Here, producer prices were 132.2 percent higher than in September 2021. Industry, for example, had to pay more than three and a half times as much for natural gas as in the same month last year.
In addition, prices for intermediate goods (+16.8 percent), capital goods (+7.8 percent) and durable and non-durable consumer goods (10.9 and 18.3 percent) also rose significantly, partly as a result of the enormously expensive energy.
Food was almost a quarter more expensive than in the same month last year. The prices for butter (+72.2 percent), pork (+46.3 percent), cheese and quark (+39.7 percent) and milk (+37.5 percent) rose particularly sharply. Coffee was 32.0 percent more expensive.
With agency material
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