Germany’s import price for nickel rises 7.6 percent in February

According to a report released by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in February this year nickel imported by Germany for steel production was 60 percent more expensive compared to February 2009 and was up by 7.6 percent compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, the import price of iron ore decreased by 30.9 percent year on year, but was up 1.5 percent month on month.
 
According to the report, Germany's energy import prices rose 14.4 percent year on year and were up 1.1 percent over the previous month. Crude oil prices rose by 60 percent compared to February 2009 and prices of petroleum products rose by 41.4 percent, while the month-on-month increase rates were 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. Natural gas imported in February this year was 29.6 percent cheaper than in February 2009, while compared to the previous month natural gas prices rose by three percent. The prices for imported coal were also lower than in the previous year, by 30.7 percent; however, compared with January this year coal import prices increased by 0.5 percent in February, marking the first rise in six months.