According to a report released by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in January this year the index of import prices increased by 1.4 percent year on year, while the month-on-month growth rate was registered at 1.7 percent. This was the first year-on-year increase since October 2008.
According to the report, the price increase in January was primarily attributable to the rise in energy prices which rose 11.3 percent year on year and were up 5.3 percent over the previous month. Crude oil prices rose by 62.2 percent compared to January 2009 and prices of petroleum products rose by 40 percent, while the month-on-month increase rates were 6.9 percent and 5.4 percent respectively. Natural gas purchased in January this year was 35.4 percent cheaper than in January 2009, while compared to the previous month natural gas prices rose by 2.9 percent. The prices for coal were also lower than in the previous year, by 29.4 percent; however, compared with December 2009 coal import prices declined by three percent in January this year.
Among commodities, in January nickel used for steel production was 51 percent more expensive compared to January 2009 and was up by 10.9 percent compared to December 2009. Import price of iron ore decreased by 31.6 percent year on year, but was up 2.2 percent month on month. Iron, steel and ferroalloy prices plunged by 8.8 percent compared to January 2009, but increased by 2.9 percent compared to December 2009.
Meanwhile, in the given month, the index of export prices slightly increased by 0.4 percent year on year, while the month-on-month increase was 0.6 percent.