Consumer prices in January rose by 0.2 per cent month on month (MoM).

The last time inflation was lower than the January figure was in June 2021, when it stood at 2.4 per cent.

Considerable seasonal price drops were observed for clothing (minus 5.9 per cent MoM) and footwear (minus 3.5 per cent MoM).

Despite the discontinuation of the brake on energy price and the raising of the price of carbon from €30 to €45 per tonne—which affects the price of fossil fuels, energy prices in Germany in January this year were 2.8 per cent lower YoY. This had a dampening effect on the rate of inflation.

The prices of energy (total) rose somewhat more—1.2 per cent—in January MoM.

Excluding energy prices, the inflation rate stood at 3.5 per cent in January. When food and energy prices are excluded, the inflation rate was 3.4 per cent. These rates also demonstrate that inflation remains high in other product groups and exceeds overall inflation, Destatis noted in a release.

The YoY change in the CPI excluding food and energy, often referred to as core inflation, slowed slightly and has been below 4 per cent since November 2023.

Total goods prices increased by 2.3 per cent between January 2023 and January 2024, with the prices of both non-durable consumer goods and durable consumer goods rising by 2.3 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)