Status: 10/20/2022 11:05 a.m
In September, producer prices rose sharply again. This gives an indication of how the inflation rate is developing. Groceries rose in price by almost a quarter – the price increase was particularly strong for butter, for example.
In Germany, producer prices continue to rise at record speed. In September, as in August, producer prices rose by 45.8 percent year-on-year. This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office today. “Thus, August and September 2022 saw the highest increases in producer prices compared to the same month last year since the survey began in 1949,” the statisticians said. Energy prices are still the strongest driver of inflation.
On a monthly basis, the increase from August to September was 2.3 percent, analysts had expected a lower increase of 1.5 percent. In the previous month, however, the month-on-month increase was even more pronounced at 7.9 percent.
“Will reach households first”
The increase in producer prices is still extreme, said LBBW economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch. “A significant part of this will still reach private households in the coming months.” “Inflation is high in 2022, it will remain high in 2023,” said the expert.
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. In September, consumer prices in Germany were ten percent higher than a year earlier.
The main reason for the sharp rise in producer-level inflation is energy, which has cost significantly more since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th. Here, producer prices were 132.2 percent higher than in September 2021. Industry had to pay more than three and a half times as much for natural gas as in the same month last year. In addition, partly as a result of the enormously expensive energy, prices for intermediate goods (+16.8 percent), capital goods (+7.8) and durable and non-durable goods (+10.9 and +18.3) also rose significantly.
Butter 72 percent more expensive
Food was even 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 percent more expensive.
In the wood business, prices for pellets and biketts made from sawmill by-products rose by 144.3 percent year-on-year. The price increase for wood in the form of flakes and chips was similarly high. Newsprint cost over 90 percent more than in September 2021.