By Emese Bartha

FRANKFURT--German producer prices accelerated in January, hitting the highest annual rate in almost five years.

Producer prices rose 0.7% in January from December and increased 2.4% on the year, the federal statistics office Destatis said on Monday. The annual producer price index rose at its highest rate since March 2012 when it rose by 2.6%, Destatis said.

In December, producer prices rose by 0.4% on the month and by 1.0% on the year.

Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast producer prices to rise by 0.3% on the month and to increase by 2.1% on the year.

Excluding energy prices, producer prices increased by 0.6% on the month and rose by 1.8% on the year, Destatis said.

Energy prices remained the key driver of producer prices in January, as they increased by 1.1% from the previous month and by 4.0% in annual comparison.

Write to Emese Bartha at emese.bartha@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 20, 2017 02:20 ET (07:20 GMT)

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