German producer price index falls in December

The German producer price index for industrial products dropped in the month of December. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the producer price index fell 0.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, as compared with prior month’s fall of 0.7 percent and consensus expectations of a fall of 0.6 percent. On a sequential basis, the overall index rose a bit by 0.1 percent, as compared with the 1.1 percent rise seen in the prior month. For 2019 as a whole, the producer price index rose 1.1 percent year-on-year.

Energy prices dropped 2.4 percent year-on-year in December. On an annual basis, prices of natural gas dropped 6.3 percent, while prices of petroleum products fell 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, electricity prices rose 0.4 percent year-on-year. Excluding energy, producer price index rose 0.4 percent year-on-year and 0.2 percent sequentially in December.

Prices of intermediate goods dropped 1.8 percent year-on-year, whereas it rose a bit by 0.1 percent sequentially in December. Prices fell especially regarding secondary raw materials. Prices of metals dropped 4 percent, where especially prices of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys dropped. On the contrary, prices of precious metals rose 19.8 percent year-on-year.

Prices of durable consumer goods rose 1.1 percent, while prices of capital goods were up 1.4 percent in December. Prices of non-durable consumer goods were up 3.6 percent year-on-year. Food prices rose 5.1 percent year-on-year.