German July import prices post sharpest decrease since 1987

German import prices decreased by 13.2% year on year in July, the sharpest drop since January 1987, the statistics office said on Wednesday, mainly due to a base effect from the price increases in the previous year following the war in Ukraine.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 13.1% year-on-year decline.

Import prices showed a slight decrease of 0.6% on the previous month, the statistics office said in a statement.

Energy imports cost 47.4% less than in July 2022. Excluding energy prices, import prices in July 2023 were 3.1% lower than in July 2022.

Since the German economy sources many intermediate products and raw materials from abroad, falling import prices have a delayed impact on general inflation.

Germany will publish preliminary inflation data for August on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the harmonised annual inflation rate to fall to 6.3% from 6.5% in the previous month.