Press release No. 115 of 22 March 2024
Import prices, January 2024
-5.9% on the same month a year earlier
0.0% on the previous month
Export prices, January 2024
-1.3% on the same month a year earlier
0.1% on the previous month
WIESBADEN – Import prices were 5.9% lower in January 2024 compared with January 2023. This is the first result following the rebasing of import and export prices to the new base year 2021 (only in German). In December 2023, the year-on-year change rate was -7.0% using 2021 as the base year (base year 2015: -8.5%), in November it was -7.2% (base year 2015: -9.0%). The modified weights implemented in the new weighting scheme and the modified basket of goods are the main reasons for the difference between the new rates of change and those based on base year 2015. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that import prices in January 2024 remained unchanged from December 2023.
Export prices in January 2024 were 1.3% lower than in January 2023. In December 2023, the year-on-year change rate was -1.4% (base year 2015: -2.4%), in November 2023 it was -1.2% (base year 2015: -2.2%). Compared with December 2023, export prices were up slightly by 0.1%.
Drop in import prices compared with January 2023 due to lower energy prices
Energy imports in January 2024 cost 27.7% less than in January 2023 and were 1.6% less expensive than in December 2023. Natural gas had the biggest influence on the year-on-year rate of change for energy, with prices in January 2024 47.2% lower than they were in January 2023.
All other imported energy sources were also considerably less expensive than in the same month a year earlier: the prices of electricity fell by 34.1%, hard coal by 31.0%, mineral oil products by 12.6%, and crude oil by 3.2%.
Compared with December 2023, the prices of natural gas (-5.6%) and hard coal (-3.8%) went down whereas electricity, in particular, was more expensive (+12.1%).
When energy prices are excluded, import prices in January 2024 were 2.5% lower than in January 2023. Compared with December 2023, they were up 0.1%. If only crude oil and mineral oil products are not considered, the import price index was 5.9% below the level of the previous year (-0.1% compared with December 2023).
Lower prices for imported intermediate goods, higher prices for consumer and capital goods
The prices of imported intermediate goods were 7.2% lower in January 2024 than in January 2023. Compared with December 2023, prices dropped by 0.5%. The prices of a number of goods were down compared with January 2023, in particular fertiliser and nitrogen compounds (-41.6%), paper and paperboard (-16.8%), plastics in primary forms (-14.4%), and basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys (-13.8%).
Capital goods prices were 0.6% higher than a year earlier. Compared with December 2023, they were up 0.2%. Consumer goods were 0.3% more expensive than in January 2023 (+0.7% compared with December 2023).
Imported agricultural products cost 0.1% more than in January 2023 (+1.8% compared with December 2023). Higher prices than in the same month a year earlier were recorded especially for cocoa beans (+73.4%), strawberries (+56.8%) and live pigs (+16.8%). By contrast, substantially lower prices were paid for imports of wheat (-27.1%) and green coffee (-9.0%).
Decline in prices for exports of energy, agricultural products and intermediate goods
Energy export prices were 22.9% lower in January 2024 than a year earlier (-7.4% compared with December 2023). As with import prices, the drop in natural gas prices (-33.8%) was the main reason for the year-on-year decline in energy export prices. The price of natural gas was down 20.2% from the previous month. Mineral oil products continued to be less expensive than a year earlier (-9.7%). Compared with December 2023, they cost 1.1% more.
The export prices of agricultural products were 7.7% lower than a year before (-0.2% compared with December 2023). Exported intermediate goods cost 4.6% less than in January 2023 (-0.1% compared with December 2023).
By contrast, capital goods were exported at prices which were 2.8% higher than a year earlier. The prices of exported consumer goods were also up compared with the previous year (+0.6%).
Rebasing import and export prices
Export and import price indices have been rebased to 2021 as of reference month January 2024. As a general rule, the base year is changed every five years. The weights of the individual export and import goods were updated as part of the recalculation. The new index values replace the values published for January 2021 to January 2024, the price indices determined using the old base of 2015 are no longer valid. More information on the rebasing is available in the “Revisionen in der Preisstatistik“ (only in German) section on the “Preisstatistik im Überblick“ page (only in German) of the Federal Statistical Office’s website.
The following table compares the year-on-year rates of price increase on the new and the previous index base for the year 2023.
| Reference period | Base year 2015 (old) | Base year 2021 (new) |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 (annual average) | -8.3 | -6.5 |
| January 2023 | 6.6 | 5.3 |
| February 2023 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| March 2023 | -3.8 | -3.1 |
| April 2023 | -7.0 | -5.6 |
| May 2023 | -9.1 | -7.7 |
| June 2023 | -11.4 | -8.6 |
| July 2023 | -13.2 | -10.8 |
| August 2023 | -16.4 | -12.9 |
| September 2023 | -14.3 | -11.0 |
| October 2023 | -13.0 | -9.5 |
| November 2023 | -9.0 | -7.2 |
| December 2023 | -8.5 | -7.0 |
| Reference period | Base year 2015 (old) | Base year 2021 (new) |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 (annual average) | -0.3 | 0.6 |
| January 2023 | 7.8 | 8.1 |
| February 2023 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| March 2023 | 2.3 | 3.3 |
| April 2023 | 1.1 | 1.7 |
| May 2023 | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| June 2023 | -0.9 | -0.1 |
| July 2023 | -3.2 | -2.0 |
| August 2023 | -5.1 | -3.6 |
| September 2023 | -4.1 | -2.6 |
| October 2023 | -2.4 | -1.1 |
| November 2023 | -2.2 | -1.2 |
| December 2023 | -2.4 | -1.4 |
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 however be delayed due to the rebasing.
Import price indices are also available on Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de). 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 Monitortool tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
