Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that in November, import prices rose sharply - by 24.4% per annum compared with an increase of 21.7% per annum in October. The last increase was the largest since October 1974 (when prices rose by 28.8% per annum). Economists had expected import prices to rise by 22.3% per annum in November.
Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, the growth of import prices slowed to 3% compared to +3.8% in October. Economists had expected an increase by 1.1%.
The data also showed that the annual price increase was due to higher prices for energy imports (+159.5% per annum), namely natural gas (+270.9% per annum), as well as crude oil (+100.4% per annum).
Meanwhile, the basic import price index, which does not take into account crude oil and petroleum products, increased by 20.8% per annum and by 3.1% on a monthly basis.
Destatis also reported that in November export prices rose by 9.9% per annum (the highest increase since January 1975) after an increase of 9.5% per annum in October. On a monthly basis, export prices increased by 0.8%.