Press release No. 138 of 19 March 2021
Producer prices of industrial products (domestic market), February 2021
+0.7% on the previous month
+1.9% on the same month a year earlier
WIESBADEN – In February 2021, the index of producer prices for industrial products increased by 1.9% compared with the corresponding month of the preceding year. In January 2021 the annual rate of change all over had been +0.9%, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. Compared with the preceding month January 2021 the overall index increased by 0.7% in February 2021 (+1.4% in January 2021).
Significant price increase on intermediate goods, escpecially regarding secondary raw materials and metals
Mainly responsible for the increase of producer prices compared to February 2020 were the prices of intermediate products. Prices of intermediate goods increased by 3.8% compared to February 2020. This was the highest price increase compared to the previous year since November 2017 (+4.0%). Compared to January 2021 these prices were up 1.1 %. Compared to February 2020 intermediate goods’ prices increased especially regarding secondary raw material (+46.6%) and prepared feeds for farm animals (+13.8%). Prices of non-ferrous metals were up 11.0%, prices of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys increased by 10.6%. The main reasons for the rise in steel prices are likely to be increasing demand in Germany and abroad, problems in the supply of raw materials and sharp price increases for iron ore. On an average, prices of metals were up 7.9% compared to February 2020, compared to January 2021 they increased by 2.4%. By contrast, prices of electronic components were down 7.9% compared to February 2020, prices of fertilisers and nitrogen compounds fell by 3.5%.
Increase in electricity prices causes rising energy prices
Energy prices as a whole increased by 3.7% compared to February 2020 and by 1.3% compared to January 2021. The price increase from February 2020 to February 2021 is mainly due to the increase of electricity prices (+6.8%), furthermore to the national CO2-pricing that has been introduced in January 2021 on several energy products. For example prices of natural gas sold to industrial consumers with an annual consumption of 116 300 MWh increased by 5.3% disregarding CO2-pricing, including CO2-pricing they rose by 16.1%.
The overall index disregarding energy was 1.4% up on February 2020.
Prices of durable consumer goods increased by 1.4% compared to February 2020, capital goods, such as machines and vehicles, by 0.8%.
Decreasing prices for pork led to drop in prices of non-durable consumer goods
Prices of non-durable consumer goods decreased by 2.0% compared to February 2020. Food prices decreased by 3.7%, mainly driven by price decreases of pork by 28.3% because of over-capacity due to the pandemic as well as the Asian ban on imports for German pork meat starting in autumn 2020. Prices of meat and poultry meat products were 8.8 % down, prices of butter decreased by 4.6%. By contrast, the price of sugar increased by 11.5% compared to February 2020.
| Year / month | 2015 = 100 | Change in % compared with | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| corresponding month of preceding year | preceding month | |||
2020 | February | 104.9 | -0.1 | -0.4 |
| March | 104.1 | -0.8 | -0.8 | |
| April | 103.4 | -1.9 | -0.7 | |
| May | 103.0 | -2.2 | -0.4 | |
| June | 103.0 | -1.8 | 0.0 | |
| July | 103.2 | -1.7 | 0.2 | |
| August | 103.2 | -1.2 | 0.0 | |
| September | 103.6 | -1.0 | 0.4 | |
| October | 103.7 | -0.7 | 0.1 | |
| November | 103.9 | -0.5 | 0.2 | |
| December | 104.7 | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| 2021 | January | 106.2 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| February | 106.9 | 1.9 | 0.7 | |
| thereof: | ||||
| Intermediate goods | 107.7 | 3.8 | 1.1 | |
| Capital goods | 106.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | |
| Durable consumer goods | 108.1 | 1.4 | 0.1 | |
| Non-durable consumer goods | 106.5 | -2.0 | 0.1 | |
| Energy | 106.7 | 3.7 | 1.3 | |
Crisis Monitor allows comparison between corona crisis and and financial and economic crisis
The Producer price index for industrial products is also part of the "Crisis monitor" (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), which is used by the Federal Statistical Office to compare the development of major short-term indicators between the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the "Corona statistics" webpage (www.destatis.de/corona), which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
Long time series on the overall index are available in table Producer price indices for industrial products (61241-0002), more detailed data in table Producer price indices for industrial products (61241-0006) in the GENESIS-Online database
