Status: 01/16/2023 12:34 p.m
In December, too, wholesale prices fell compared to the previous month. Even if annual inflation remains substantial, pressure on consumer prices will continue to ease.
Price dynamics continued to weaken in German wholesale. In December, prices were 12.8 percent higher than in the same month last year, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. The annual rate thus continued to fall after a plus of 17.4 percent in October and 14.9 percent in November.
Compared to November, wholesale prices even fell by 1.6 percent. This is the strongest decline compared to a previous month since December 2008, the Wiesbaden authorities announced. Petroleum products in particular, but also grain, raw tobacco, seeds and animal feed, as well as agricultural raw materials, cost less than a month before.
Has inflation peaked?
The average price increase in wholesale over the past year was 18.8 percent, driven primarily by more expensive petroleum products (plus 50.1 percent). The peak was reached in April with an increase of 23.8 percent – the strongest increase since the statistics were introduced in 1962.
Wholesale, the economic level between manufacturers and end customers, is a key factor in pricing. If wholesalers incur higher costs, these are at least partially passed on to consumer prices.
The declining wholesale price momentum is another indication that inflation in Germany may have peaked. In December, the inflation rate fell below ten percent for the first time since September.