Press release No. 252 of 28 June 2024

Import prices, May 2024
-0.4% on the same month a year earlier
0.0% on the previous month 

Export prices, May 2024
+0.2% on the same month a year earlier
0.0% on the previous month 

WIESBADEN – Import prices were 0.4% lower in May 2024 than in May 2023. Compared with the same month a year earlier, the rate of change was -1.7% in April 2024, and -3.6% in March 2024. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that import prices in May 2024 remained unchanged from April 2024.

Export prices in May 2024 were 0.2% higher than in May 2023. The year-on-year rate of change was -0.2% in April 2024, and -1.0% in March 2024. Export prices remained unchanged from April 2024. 

Drop in import prices compared with May 2023 due to lower prices for intermediate goods

The decline in the prices of imported intermediate goods compared with the same month of the previous year (-2.6%) had the biggest impact on the overall development of import prices in May 2024. A number of goods in this category were less expensive than a year earlier, including starches and starch products (-30.7%), basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys (-10.1%), paper and paperboard (-8.1%), batteries and accumulators (-7.5%) and plastics in primary forms (-6.9%). Compared with April 2024, the prices of intermediate goods were up 0.5%.

The prices of energy imports in May 2024 were hardly down at all compared with May 2023 (-0.1%), while they dropped by 0.7% from April 2024. Natural gas had the biggest influence on the year-on-year rate of change for energy, with prices in May 2024 10.8% lower than they were in May 2023. Compared with April 2024, however, natural gas cost 8.7% more.

Electricity (-18.2%) and hard coal (-12.6%) were also considerably less expensive than in the same month a year earlier. Hard coal prices were also down month on month (-4.6%), while electricity cost considerably more (+7.1%).

Compared with May 2023, crude oil prices increased by 11.0% and mineral oil products were 7.3% more expensive. However, both energy sources cost 5.1% less than in April 2024.

When energy prices are excluded, import prices in May 2024 were also 0.4% lower than in May 2023. They were up 0.1% compared with April 2024. If only crude oil and mineral oil products are not considered, the import price index was 1.1% below the level of the previous year (+0.3% compared with April 2024). 

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

The prices of imported agricultural goods in May 2024 were 5.8% higher than in May 2023 (+0.2% compared with April 2024). The prices of raw cocoa were up 171.2% year on year but down 8.4% on the previous month. This was the first month-on-month price decrease since January 2023. The prices of green coffee were 7.6% higher than in May 2023, but also lower than in the previous month (-1.9%). By contrast, tomatoes (-21.4%) and grain (-5.7%) cost less than a year earlier.

Consumer goods prices were up 1.3% year on year (-0.1% compared with April 2024). While the prices of non-durable consumer goods rose by 1.6% year on year, the prices of durable consumer goods were up 0.4% compared with the previous year. In the case of non-durable consumer goods, cocoa butter, fat and oil, in particular, still cost almost three times (+196.2%) the amount registered in May 2023. Compared with April 2024, prices here were up 0.5%.

Capital goods prices were also higher than a year earlier (+0.2%). Compared with April 2024, they were also slightly down (-0.1%). 

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 1.5% less expensive than in May 2023 (+0.2% on April 2024). The year-on-year decrease in the prices of fertiliser and nitrogen compounds (-25.6%) and basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys, which cost 8.9% less than a year earlier, as well as lower prices for paper and paperboard (-6.6%) and exported plastics in primary forms (-4.3%) had a major impact here.

Energy export prices were 12.1% lower in May 2024 than a year earlier (+0.5% on April 2024). As with import prices, the drop in natural gas prices (-29.0%) was the main reason for the year-on-year decline in energy export prices. Compared with April 2024, however, natural gas cost 8.6% more. Higher year-on-year prices were observed for mineral oil products (+6.6%). They were down 5.1% compared with April 2024.

The export prices of agricultural products were 0.3% lower than in the previous year (+3.5% compared with April 2024).

By contrast, capital goods were exported at prices which were 1.8% higher than a year earlier. The prices of exported consumer goods were also up compared with the previous year (+1.7%).

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.