Status: 13.12.2021 12:59 p.m.
In German wholesaling, prices have risen faster than ever since the beginning of the statistics. Consumers will soon have to pay even more for many products.
Prices in German wholesalers rose at a record pace in November due to expensive raw materials and intermediate products. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, wholesale sales prices were 16.6 percent higher than in the same month last year. This was the highest year-on-year increase since the calculation began 59 years ago.
As a result, the upward trend in prices accelerated again significantly: In October the rate of inflation was still 15.2 percent and in September 13.2 percent. In November, the strongest price drivers in wholesale were once again petroleum products, which cost an average of 62 percent more than a year earlier. Old and residual materials went up by as much as 77 percent, while ores, metals and metal intermediate products went up by 60 percent. The prices for raw and sawn timber have also risen significantly by 41 percent.
Agricultural products are also more expensive
The Federal Statistical Office also reported a 37 percent increase in grain prices for October. Potatoes rose in price by 44 percent because of the low harvest, and rapeseed by as much as 62 percent. The price trend for useful plants is also related to the fact that it is now also increasingly being used for energy generation.
Wholesale is one of several economic levels on which the general price level is formed. In addition to wholesale, this also includes the prices for goods imported into Germany, the so-called import prices. They all have an impact on consumer prices, which the European Central Bank (ECB) uses to base its monetary policy. In Germany, consumer prices had recently risen by 5.2 percent, the fastest they have been for almost 30 years.
Supply chains still disrupted
Due to the rapid recovery of the global economy from the pandemic shock, the world’s largest economies, the USA and China, are growing quite strongly this year. This leads to global bottlenecks that lead to rising prices. In addition, the supply chains are further disrupted, for example by corona outbreaks in China, where the authorities recently closed entire factories or ports several times.
In their annual report for the federal government, the economic wise men expect an average inflation rate of 3.1 percent for the year to come. It is expected to fall to 2.6 percent in 2022.