The German producer price index for industrial products dropped in the month of December. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the producer price index fell 0.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, as compared with prior month’s fall of 0.7 percent and consensus expectations of a fall of 0.6 percent. On a sequential basis, the overall index rose a bit by 0.1 percent, as compared with the 1.1 percent rise seen in the prior month. For 2019 as a whole, the producer price index rose 1.1 percent year-on-year.
Energy prices dropped 2.4 percent year-on-year in December. On an annual basis, prices of natural gas dropped 6.3 percent, while prices of petroleum products fell 3.4 percent. Meanwhile, electricity prices rose 0.4 percent year-on-year. Excluding energy, producer price index rose 0.4 percent year-on-year and 0.2 percent sequentially in December.
Prices of intermediate goods dropped 1.8 percent year-on-year, whereas it rose a bit by 0.1 percent sequentially in December. Prices fell especially regarding secondary raw materials. Prices of metals dropped 4 percent, where especially prices of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys dropped. On the contrary, prices of precious metals rose 19.8 percent year-on-year.
Prices of durable consumer goods rose 1.1 percent, while prices of capital goods were up 1.4 percent in December. Prices of non-durable consumer goods were up 3.6 percent year-on-year. Food prices rose 5.1 percent year-on-year.
