German Import Prices Fall 5.9%

Germany's import prices continued to decline at the start of the year, largely due to cheaper energy costs, data released by Destatis showed on Friday.

Import prices dropped 5.9 percent year-over-year in January, slower than the 7.0 percent decline in December. Prices have been falling since March 2023.

This is the first result after the conversion of import and export prices to the new base year 2021, Destatis said.

Data showed that energy import prices plunged 27.7 percent annually, and prices of imported intermediate goods decreased 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, capital goods prices rose 0.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, import prices remained flat in February, versus a 1.0 percent fall in December. Prices were expected to fall by 0.3 percent.

Data showed that export prices declined 1.4 percent in January from the previous year after a 1.2 percent fall in the prior month. Export prices posted a monthly rise of 0.1 percent in January, reversing a 0.3 percent drop a month ago.

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