The March data shows:
- Producer prices (monthly) +2.5% m/m
- Producer prices (annual) -0.2% y/y
That isn’t a surprise with the jump being largely from a sharp increase in prices for almost all energy products. Mind you, the year-on-year figure was -3.3% in February. So, the lower natural gas and electricity prices in the preceding months have largely been negated now.
The monthly jump in energy prices was 7.5% in March. In particular, the prices of mineral oil products rose sharply as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. Natural gas and electricity prices were more contained though, but there is a bit of a caveat to that. Destatis notes that the low prices were “mainly due to longer-term contracts and pricing mechanisms”.
Meanwhile, motor fuel prices were seen up 22.3% compared to February and up 29.5% compared to March last year. And prices for mineral oil products were seen up 22.9% compared to February and up 18.3% from March last year.
Even if oil and gas price futures may look to have come off the boil in recent weeks, don’t expect April to be all too much better. The longer that the US-Iran war drags on and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, that will continue to keep biting at every day consumers and businesses amid higher energy prices.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.
