German import prices are rising faster than they have been in 40 years
Rise in oil / gas prices and bottlenecks in the supply chain for raw materials are the causes.

German import prices rose last month more than they have been in 40 years, driven by a surge in oil and gas prices, and bottlenecks in the supply chain for raw materials continued to worsen, suggesting a further rise in prices for consumers.
As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday, import prices rose by 16.5% in August compared to the previous year and were thus above the forecasts of economists, who had expected an increase of 16.1%, and above the 15.0% in the July.
The increase in August was the largest since September 1981, when the second oil crisis pushed prices up 17.4%.
Energy import prices rose 93.6% year-on-year in August, mainly due to a sharp rise in natural gas prices, according to the statistics bureau.
The prices for many raw materials also rose sharply. Iron ore cost 96.8% more in August, the price of sawn and planed timber rose 61.6%, and the price of iron, steel and ferro-alloys rose 57.7%.
At the same time, the bottlenecks in the supply chains of German companies have worsened, according to a survey by the Ifo Institute published on Wednesday.
Around 77.4% of German industrial companies reported difficulties in sourcing intermediate products and raw materials this month. According to the Ifo Institute, the figure for automobile manufacturers was as high as 97%.
"There are many orders, but the companies cannot produce them at the moment," said Ifo economist Klaus Wohlrabe. As a result, more companies are now planning price increases, according to Ifo.
Economists expect that the German inflation figures, which will be released on Thursday, will show that the rise in consumer prices, which have been harmonized to make them comparable to inflation data from other EU countries (HICP), accelerated further and in September was 4.0%, down from 3.4% in August, according to data from Refinitiv.





