Press release No. 128 of 31 March 2023
Import prices, February 2023
+2.8% on the same month a year earlier
-2.4% on the previous month
Export prices, February 2023
+6.6% on the same month a year earlier
-0.2% on the previous month
WIESBADEN – Import prices were 2.8% higher in February 2023 than in February 2022. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the rate of increase has further slowed down. The year-on-year rate of change had been +6.6% in January 2023 and +12.6% in December 2022. Compared with January 2023, import prices were down 2.4% in February 2023. This was the sixth decrease in a row.
Year-on-year price increase mainly due to high prices for consumer goods and capital goods
The increase in year-on-year import prices continued to be mainly due to the rise in import prices for consumer goods (+8.4%), especially for non-durable consumer goods (+8.6%), as well as for capital goods (+6.2%).
Prices for intermediate goods increased by 2.6% compared to February 2022.
Import prices for energy decreased by 8.1%. This has been the first decrease since January 2021. The year-on-year decrease was mainly due to the price decrease of natural gas (-11.2% compared with February 2022). Compared with January 2023, natural gas prices fell by 25.2%. The prices for imported crude oil and hard coal were also lower than a year before (-10.3% and -5.6%). In contrast, prices for mineral oil products increased by 2.3% and for electricity by 2.1% compared with February 2022.
The index of import prices, excluding crude oil and mineral oil products, increased by 3.7% in February 2023 compared with February 2022 and fell by 2.3% in comparison with January 2023.
Export prices pushed by increases in prices of capital and intermediate goods
The index of export prices was 6.6% higher in February 2023 than in February 2022. In January 2023 and December 2022, the year-on-year rate of change had been +7.8% and +10.6%, respectively. Compared with January 2023, export prices were down 0.2% in February 2023.
The price increase in February 2023 in comparison with February 2022 was mainly due to the development of capital goods. Exports of capital goods were 6.6% more expensive than in February 2022 (+0.4% compared with January 2023). The price development of capital goods was mainly influenced by the development of machinery prices, which were up 9.0% on February 2022, followed by that of motor vehicle prices (+5.6%).
Intermediate goods prices increased by 7.2% compared with February 2022 (-0.4% on January 2023).
Energy exports were 7.8% cheaper than in February 2022 (-5.6% compared with January 2023). This was mainly due to the price decrease of natural gas (-24.2% compared with February 2022). Compared with January 2023 these prices decreased by 12.6%.
Mineral oil product prices were still up 3.9% compared with February 2022.Compared with January 2023 they decreased by 5.3%.
More detailed data and long time series are available in the tables Index of import prices (61411-0002 and 61411-0006) and Index of export prices (61421-0002 and 61421-0006) in the GENESIS-Online database.
Import price indices are also available in the Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in german). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators of official statistics and from other data providers on the topics of economy and finance as well as health and mobility.A tool also available there is the Economic Pulse Monitor (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in german). It can be used for real-time monitoring of the economic development.
