Refinery in Schwedt an der Oder (archive picture): Drastic price increase
Photo: Patrick Pleul / picture alliance / dpa
The increase has a dramatic effect: wholesale sales prices rose more sharply in June than they have been in almost 40 years.
As announced by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, wholesale prices increased by 10.7 percent compared to June 2020.
The last time there was an even higher change in the previous year was in October 1981 as a result of the second oil crisis - at that time prices rose by eleven percent compared to the same month last year.
According to the Federal Office, the high rate of increase is partly due to the so-called base effect.
Because in June 2020, the same month last year, the price level was very low due to the Corona crisis - the increase is correspondingly high in comparison.
But even compared to the previous month of May 2021, wholesale sales prices continued to rise, increasing by 1.5 percent in June.
According to statistics, the greatest influence on the rate of change in the wholesale price index compared to the same month of the previous year was the price increase in wholesale petroleum products (plus 37.7 percent).
There were also particularly strong price increases compared to the previous year in the wholesale trade for scrap and residual materials with a plus of 77.6 percent and for ores, metals and semi-finished metal products (plus 54.2 percent).
Raw and sawn timber (plus 48.4 percent) as well as grain, raw tobacco, seeds and animal feed (plus 26.9 percent) were also considerably more expensive than in the previous year.
According to statistics, prices in the wholesale trade for data processing equipment and software (minus 3.7 percent) and for fish and fish products (minus 1.2 percent) were lower than in June 2020.
Wholesale prices are considered an indicator of consumer price inflation because companies pass on some of the price increases to their customers.
The European Central Bank recently announced that it would tolerate rising prices for longer.
mic / AFP