Germany's import prices decline 5.9% in January 2024

Despite these decreases, import prices remained stable from December 2023 to January 2024. A significant factor contributing to this trend is the substantial decrease in energy import prices, which were 27.7 per cent lower than in January 2023 and 1.6 per cent down from December 2023.

When excluding the energy sector, import prices in January still saw a decline, being 2.5 per cent lower than the same month in the previous year. Among the varying sectors, imported intermediate goods experienced a 7.2 per cent drop compared to January 2023, with a modest 0.5 per cent decrease from December 2023. However, consumer goods bucked the trend, becoming slightly more expensive by 0.3 per cent YoY and seeing a 0.7 per cent increase from the preceding month, as per Destatis.

On the export side, Germany witnessed a 1.3 per cent decrease in export prices in January 2024 compared to the same month last year. This follows a 1.4 per cent YoY decrease in December 2023 and a 1.2 per cent fall in November, with a slight increase of 0.1 per cent in export prices from December 2023 to January 2024. The data indicates a subtle yet ongoing adjustment in the pricing of German exports.

The sector-specific analysis reveals a 22.9 per cent YoY decrease in energy export prices for January, alongside a 4.6 per cent reduction in prices for exported intermediate goods. Conversely, exported consumer goods saw a price increase of 0.6 per cent compared to January 2023.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)