Press release No. 214 of 31 May 2024

Import prices, April 2024
-1.7% on the same month a year earlier
0.7% on the previous month

Export prices, April 2024
-0.2% on the same month a year earlier
0.4% on the previous month

WIESBADEN – Import prices were 1.7% lower in April 2024 compared with April 2023. The year-on-year rate of change was -3.6% in March 2024, and -4.9% in February 2024. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that import prices in April 2024 rose by 0.7% on March 2024.

Export prices in April 2024 were 0.2% lower than in April 2023. The year-on-year rate of change was -1.0% in March 2024, and -1.1% in February 2024. Compared with March 2024, export prices were up 0.4% in April 2024.

Drop in import prices compared with April 2023 due to lower prices for intermediate goods and energy

The decline in the prices of imported intermediate goods compared with the same month of the previous year (-4.1%) had the biggest impact on the overall development of import prices in April 2024. A number of goods in this category were less expensive than a year earlier, including paper and paperboard (-10.6%), plastics in primary forms (-8.5%) and metals (-7.4%). Compared with March 2024, the prices of intermediate goods were up 0.9%.

The prices of energy imports in April 2024 were 7.0% lower than in April 2023,while they rose by 2.4% compared with March 2024. Natural gas had the biggest influence on the year-on-year rate of change for energy, with prices in April 2024 23.5% lower than they were in April 2023. Compared with March 2024, however, natural gas cost 1.7% more.

Electricity (-38.4%) and hard coal (-16.9%) were also considerably less expensive than in the same month a year earlier. They were also down month on month, with prices of electricity falling 4.0% and those of hard coal declining 3.1%.

By contrast, the prices of crude oil (+8.1%) and mineral oil products (+5.5%) were higher than in April 2023.

Crude oil prices also rose month on month (+6.0%), while lower prices were recorded for mineral oil products (-0.3% compared with March 2024).

When energy prices are excluded, import prices in April 2024 were 1.0% lower than in April 2023. They were up 0.6% compared with March 2024.If only crude oil and mineral oil products are not considered, the import price index was 2.2% below the level of the previous year (+0.6% compared with March 2024).

Higher prices for imports of agricultural goods, consumer and capital goods

The prices of imported agricultural goods in April 2024 were 1.7% higher than in April 2023 (+1.4% compared with March 2024). Here, the price of raw cocoa was more than triple that recorded a year ago (+208.0%) and was significantly higher (+42.4%) than in March 2024. Green coffee cost 7.3% more than in April 2023. The price was up 11.7% month on month. By contrast, the prices of tomatoes (-30.5%) and wheat (-18.0%) fell significantly from the previous year.

Consumer goods prices were up 1.5% year on year and increased by 0.5% on the previous month. While the prices of non-durable consumer goods rose by 1.7% year on year and were up 0.6% on the previous month, the prices of durable consumer goods only registered an increase of 0.7% from the previous year and an increase of 0.2% from the previous month. In the case of non-durable consumer goods, cocoa butter, fat and oil, in particular, cost almost three times (+196.5%) as much as in April 2023. Compared with March 2024, prices here were up 20.2%.

Capital goods prices were also higher than a year earlier (+0.3%). They remained unchanged compared with March 2024.

Lower prices for exports of intermediate goods, energy and agricultural goods

The drop in the prices of intermediate goods also had the biggest influence on the overall development of export prices. Exports of intermediate goods were 2.2% less expensive than in April 2023 (+0.6% on March 2024). The year-on-year decrease in the prices of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys (-10.3%) and lower prices for paper and paperboard (-8.0%) and exported plastics in primary forms (-4.9%) had a major impact here.

Energy export prices were 17.3% lower in April 2024 than a year earlier (+0.9% on March 2024). As with import prices, the drop in natural gas prices (-35.9%) was the main reason for the year-on-year decline in energy export prices. Compared with March 2024, however, natural gas cost 1.6% more. Higher year-on-year prices were observed for mineral oil products (+6.0%). They were up 1.3% compared with March 2024.

The export prices of agricultural products were down 4.1% compared with the previous year (+1.2% compared with March 2024).

By contrast, capital goods were exported at prices which were 2.1% higher than a year earlier. The prices of exported consumer goods were also up compared with the previous year (+1.9%).

More information:

All current results are also provided in the statistical reports on the statistics of import and export prices. Long time series are also available in the tables on the index of import prices (61411-0002 and 61411-0006) and index of export prices (61421-0002 and 61421-0006) in the GENESIS-Online database. The provision of results for the period before 2021 will be delayed due to the rebasing of the indices.

Import price indices are also available on Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.