Food prices also rose above average in November. Fruit, sugar and confectionery in particular rose in price significantly. For olive oil, the price increase was almost 44 percent.
Despite declining inflation, food prices remain comparatively high. Although it fell slightly, at 5.5 percent in November it was still well above the overall inflation rate of 3.2 percent. This is shown by the detailed data on German inflation that the Federal Statistical Office published at the end of the week.
Massive increase in the price of olive oil
Food inflation was strongly influenced by increased prices for fruit (plus 12.0 percent) as well as sugar, jam, honey and confectionery (plus 11.9 percent). Consumers had to pay 9.4 percent more for bread and grain products, and 7.3 percent more for vegetables. Fish, fish products and seafood rose in price by 7.1 percent.
In contrast, cooking fats and oils were on average 11.5 percent cheaper than a year before. But a look into the details reveals major differences: the significant price declines for butter (minus 24.8 percent) as well as sunflower oil and rapeseed oil (minus 17.3 percent) were offset by a massive price increase for olive oil of 43.5 percent.
Heating oil, natural gas and fuel are significantly cheaper
The fact that consumer prices rose on average by “only” 5.5 percent in November – despite the high price increases for food – is primarily due to the decline in energy prices. “In October and November 2023, many energy products in particular were cheaper than a year before. The price situation has visibly relaxed here,” explained the President of the Federal Statistical Office, Ruth Brand.
Energy products then became cheaper by 4.5 percent year-on-year; in October the price decline was 3.2 percent. Light heating oil fell by 19.4 percent, natural gas by 18.3 percent, and fuel by 6.9 percent. Electricity, however, was 1.6 percent more expensive in November 2023 than a year before.
Inflation risks in the new year
“The detailed data on German inflation show that the inflationary pressure is weakening across the board,” explained the scientific director of the Institute for Macroeconomics and Economic Research (IMK) of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Sebastian Dullien. “The price increases of more and more products are getting closer to the European Central Bank’s two percent target.”
However, inflation could rise again in December because the federal government took over the advance payments for natural gas in the same month last year. At the turn of the year, the energy price brakes and the reduction in VAT on energy and in the catering industry will also expire. “There is therefore an increased risk that inflation will be even higher than previously thought, at least in the first half of the year,” explained Dullien.