According to the report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in December 2020, the index of producer prices for industrial products increased by 0.2% compared with the corresponding month of the preceding year. In November the annual rate of change all over had been –0.5%. Compared with the preceding month November the overall index increased by 0.8% in December 2020 (+0.2% in November).

Prices of intermediate goods increased by 0.8% compared to December 2019. Prices increased especially regarding precious metals (+18.4%), metallic secondary raw material (+17.0%) and copper (+11.5%). Prices of durable consumer goods increased by 1.6% compared to December 2019, capital goods by 0.9%.

Energy prices as a whole decreased by 0.1% compared to December 2019 but increased by 2.3% compared to November 2020. On an annual basis, prices of petroleum products were down 13.5% and prices of natural gas (distribution) decreased by 3.3%. By contrast electricity prices increased by 5.9%.

The overall index disregarding energy was 0.3% up on December 2019.