BERLIN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Germany's producer prices of industrial products in December 2021 rose by 24.2 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, the strongest year-on-year increase since the start of the survey in 1949, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday.
Rising by 69 percent year-on-year, energy prices were "mainly responsible" for the increase of producer prices, Destatis noted. Natural gas and electricity saw particularly high price increases, up 121.9 percent and 74.3 percent, respectively.
Significant price increases were also recorded for intermediate goods, which were 19.3 percent more expensive in December last year. With a year-on-year increase of 36.1 percent, metals had "the highest impact on the price development of intermediate goods," according to Destatis.
Fertilizers as well as nitrogen compounds, wooden containers and secondary raw materials also recorded high price increases, rising between 63.5 and 69.1 percent, according to Destatis.
"German consumers and companies should prepare for further price increases," the ifo Institute said on Wednesday. In December, the ifo index for price expectations fell slightly but remained on a high level at 44.6 points, after an all-time high of 44.9 points in November.
"Companies are passing on the increased cost of energy and of procuring intermediate products and merchandise," said Timo Wollmershaeuser, head of economic forecasts at the ifo Institute. "Inflation will decline over the course of this year, but slowly." ■