Consumer prices in February 2010: +0.6% on February 2009

Opposing price trends for energy products

The consumer price index for Germany rose by 0.4% on an annual average in 2009 compared with 2008. That was the lowest year-on-year rate of price increase since German unification. A similarly low rate of inflation was observed in 1999 (+0.6%). In 2007 and 2008, the year-on-year inflation rate was above the threshold of two percent which is important for monetary policy (2007: +2.3%; 2008: +2.6%). The average year-on-year rate of price increase since 1999 has been 1.5%.
Prices of energy as a whole remained nearly unchanged from a year earlier (+0.1%). However, mineral oil product prices rose markedly on a year earlier (+11.1%; of which heating oil: +13.8%; motor fuels: +10.5%) and electricity prices, too, were up from the same month of the previous year (+3.4%). At the same time, however, gas prices (−19.6%) as well as charges for central and remote heating (−12.9%) decreased markedly. Altogether, the opposing year-on-year price trends observed for energy products nearly offset each other: Not considering the price development for energy, the inflation rate in February would have been 0.6%, too.
In February 2010 food prices were altogether 1.1% below the level of a year earlier although prices have been rising since November 2009. Prices were down especially for vegetables (−4.0%; including cucumbers: −30.0%; potatoes: −14.2%) and dairy products (−3.3%; including sliced cheese: −7.4%; hard cheese: −6.9%; UHT milk: −3.8%).  Price increases were however recorded especially for fish (+4.4%; including fresh fish fillet and other fresh fish: +5.5% each; smoked fish: +4.9%) as well as for oils and fats (+3.5%; including butter: +13.9%). What should also be mentioned is the considerable decrease in sugar prices (−12.2% in February 2010 on February 2009), which had been in the two-digit range already since November 2009.
The price development for consumer durables in February 2010 remained favourable from the consumers’ point of view (−0.5% on February 2009). Particularly consumer-friendly price trends were observed for some products of consumer electronics (for example, TV sets: −22.7%), for information processing equipment (personal computers: −14.5%; notebooks: −12.2%) as well as for photographic and cinematographic equipment (digital cameras: −9.2%).

Year-on-year price increases worth mentioning were recorded, however, for tobacco (+5.4%) as well as for newspapers and periodicals (+3.9%).
Altogether, prices of goods were up 0.3% compared with the same month of the previous year. The increase in prices of services (+0.8%) was markedly larger (including net rents exclusive of heating expenses: +1.0%).

Change in February 2010 on January 2010