German Producer Prices Rise at Fastest Pace in More Than 45 Years
September 20 2021 - 4:26AM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Martinez
The index of producer prices for industrial products in Germany
rose 12.0% in August compared with the prior year, the German
statistics office Destatis said Monday.
This was the highest year-on-year increase since December 1974,
when prices rose strongly during the first oil crisis, Destatis
said.
"Monday's figures suggest that the German industrial sector is
continuing to feel the rippling effects of the global supply chain
crisis," said Thomas Rinn, Accenture's global industrial lead.
Compared with the preceding month, the index rose by 1.5% in
August.
The main drivers of the rise were prices of energy and
intermediate products, the statistics office said.
Energy prices rose by 24.0% year-on-year, due to the strong
increase in natural gas prices. The overall index after stripping
out energy was up 8.3% on year in August, Destatis said.
Prices of intermediate goods increased by 17.1% compared with
August 2020, Destatis said. Intermediate goods prices increased,
particularly for metallic secondary raw materials and sawn timber,
as well as wooden packaging materials and reinforcing steel in
bars.
Prices of durable consumer goods rose 2.8% year-on-year, while
capital goods, such as machines and vehicles, rose by 2.4%,
Destatis said. Increasing prices for oils and fat led to growth in
prices of non-durable consumer goods too, which increased by 2.1%
compared to August 2020.
"Significant price increases across intermediate goods reflect
the impact of essential component material shortages across key
sectors of German industry and the significant hikes in freight
costs," Mr. Rinn said.
With supply bottlenecks forecast to continue for the next few
months, now is an imperative time for German industrial firms to
reassess their logistics strategy, he said.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 20, 2021 04:11 ET (08:11 GMT)
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