German producer prices up 6.7% – heating oil nearly twice as expensive as a year ago
German producer prices rose in September at the fastest annual pace since March 2023, driven by energy: mineral oil products cost more than half again as much as a year earlier.
Symbolic image · Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Producer prices for industrial products in Germany were 6.7% higher in September than a year earlier, the Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday. The annual rate was 4.6% in August, and economists had expected 6.3%. It was the strongest annual increase since March 2023. Compared with August, prices rose 1.9%.
Energy prices rose 14.9% year on year. Mineral oil products cost 51.3% more, light heating oil 91.8% more and motor fuels 48.6% more. Natural gas in distribution was up 15.0% and electricity 8.2%.
Excluding energy, producer prices rose only 3.2%. Intermediate goods were 6.4% more expensive, while non-durable consumer goods fell 1.8%. Producer prices are seen as a leading indicator for consumer prices, as changes are usually passed on to retailers and customers.