German Producer Prices +5.2% Y/Y in April, Fastest Increase Since August 2011

20 May 2021

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Producer prices in Germany rose by 5.2% on the year in April, the highest annual rate of increase since the same rate in August 2011, the German Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday.

The acceleration was the eleventh in a row and represented a significant increase from March’s +3.7% and February’s +1.9 on the year.

On the month, producer prices in April were up 0.8%, versus +0.9% in March and +0.7% in February.

‘Mainly responsible for the increase of producer prices compared to April 2020 were the prices of intermediate products and of energy’, the Statistical Office said.

With energy prices as a whole up in April by 10.6% on the year and 0.6% on the month, producer prices ex-energy were up 3.6% on the year (after +2.4% in March and +1.4% in February).

According to the Statistical Office, the annual rate of increase of energy prices in April was mainly due to higher electricity prices, up 10.7%, and sharply higher prices for mineral oil products, up 30.9%, as well as a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. The Statistical Office cited an example of natural gas sold to industrial consumers that was 15.5% more expensive without the CO2 tax and 27.1% more expensive with it.

Intermediate goods prices rose 8.2% y/y in April, the highest annual rate of increase since February 2011 (+8.9%), and were up 1.8% m/m.