Rate of inflation slows further due to prices of energy and food
Press release No. 150 of 12 March 2024
Consumer price index, March 2024
+2.2% on the same month a year earlier (provisional result confirmed)
+0.4% on the previous month (provisional result confirmed)
Harmonised index of consumer prices, March 2024
+2.3% on the same month a year earlier (provisional result confirmed)
+0.6% on the previous month (provisional result confirmed)
WIESBADEN − The inflation rate in Germany, measured as the year-on-year change in the consumer price index (CPI), stood at +2.2% in March 2024. The inflation rate was +2.5% in February 2024, and +2.9% in January 2024. The inflation rate in March 2024 was therefore at its lowest level since May 2021 (also +2.2%). Before that, an even lower value was observed in April 2021 (+2.0%). "The rate of inflation has decreased further," says Ruth Brand, President of the Federal Statistical Office. She adds: "The price situation for energy and food had a dampening effect on inflation for the second consecutive month. In March 2024, consumers had to pay less for food than a year earlier for the first time since February 2015." The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that consumer prices in March 2024 rose by 0.4% on February 2024.
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Energy product prices fell by 2.7% compared with March 2023
Energy prices in March 2024 were 2.7% lower than in the same month a year earlier despite the discontinuation of the brake on energy prices as of January 2024 and the introduction of a higher carbon price from January 2024, which affects the price of fossil fuels such as motor fuels, heating oil and natural gas. A year-on-year decrease in energy prices has therefore been consistently recorded since the start of the year (January 2024: -2.8%; February 2024: -2.4%). This development had a downward effect on the rate of inflation.
From March 2023 to March 2024, prices of household energy fell by 4.6%. Compared with the same month of the preceding year, consumers mainly benefitted from lower prices for firewood, wood pellets and other solid fuels (-10.8%), but also for natural gas (-9.2%) and electricity (-8.1%). By contrast, the prices of some energy products were higher than a year earlier, in particular district heating (+20.6%). There was also a slight increase in the price of mineral oil products (+0.3%, of which motor fuels: +0.3%; heating oil: +0.4%).
Food prices down 0.7% compared with March 2023
In March 2024, food prices were down 0.7% year on year. This means that food prices were lower compared to the same period of the previous year for the first time since February 2015 (-0.2%). The increase in food prices has slowed since April 2023 and, at +0.9%, was already below the overall rate of inflation in February 2024. In particular, the prices of fresh vegetables (-20.1%) declined in the period from March 2023 to March 2024. Consumers also had to pay markedly less than a year earlier for dairy products (-5.5%). Fish, fish products and seafood were more expensive (+0.9%) compared with the previous year. In addition, the prices of a variety of foodstuffs in March 2024 were above the overall rate of inflation - in some cases by a considerable margin - including the price of sugar, jam, honey and other confectionery (+8.4%), the price of fruit (+4.2%) and the price of bread and cereals (+3.0%). Year on year, a marked decline was recorded in the price of sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and the like (-21.7%), while olive oil prices experienced a sharp increase (+54.1%).
Inflation rate excluding food and energy at +3.3%
Excluding energy prices, the inflation rate stood at +2.7% in March 2024. The inflation rate excluding food and energy, often referred to as core inflation, was +3.3%.These rates also demonstrate that total inflation in other product groups exceeded the overall inflation rate. The year-on-year change in the consumer price index excluding food and energy had been above the overall inflation rate since January 2024.
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Below-average rise in goods prices of 1.0% on March 2023
Goods prices (total) increased by 1.0% in the period from March 2023 to March 2024 and therefore were lower than overall inflation. The prices of non-durable consumer goods and durable consumer goods rose by 0.5% and 1.8%, respectively. Some goods registered above-average price increases, however, for example non-alcoholic beverages (+6.5%), alcoholic beverages and tobacco products (+5.2%) and passenger cars (+4.1%). By contrast, lower prices were observed, for example, for mobile phones (-5.3%) and information processing equipment (-5.5%).
Service prices up 3.7% year on year
The prices of services (total) were up 3.7% in March 2024 on the same month of the previous year. A major factor contributing to the development of service prices was the 2.1% increase in net rents exclusive of heating expenses. However, the prices of a number of other services increased above average, among them were insurance services (+11.0%), services of social facilities (+7.8%) and catering services in restaurants, cafés and the like (+6.9%). By contrast, the Germany ticket available since May 2023 continued to have a dampening effect on the increase in service prices also in March. Consumers had to pay less in particular for the combined tickets for rail, bus and the like (-23.3%) compared with the same month a year earlier.
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Prices up month on month, but down for energy and food
Compared with February 2024, the consumer price index rose by 0.4% in March 2024. Seasonal month-on-month price increases were observed mainly for air tickets (+21.2%), package holidays (+6.8%) and clothing (+3.6%). By contrast, energy prices (total) fell by 0.3% compared with the previous month, a particular price drop was recorded for heating oil (-4.0%). The prices of natural gas (-1.1%) and electricity (-0.9%) decreased as well. Consumers also had to pay somewhat less for food in general (-0.3%) in March 2024 than in February 2024, especially for fresh vegetables (-3.5%) and fruit (-1.0%).
Methodological notes:
An overview explaining the different measuresof the Federal Government and their impact on the consumer price index is available on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.
The consumer price index (CPI) and the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) differ in coverage and methodology. In contrast to the HICP, the CPI also includes household expenditure on owner-occupied housing, games of chance and broadcasting fees. In addition, the HICP product weights are updated annually. As the weight of housing is much smaller in the HICP basket, price increases in other product groups have a larger impact on the HICP than on the CPI. These differences (coverage, methodology and weighting) explain the differences between the CPI and the HICP for Germany. Explanatory notes on this issue are provided on the website of the Federal Statistical Office, a methodological paper is also available.
Inflation Calculator for personal rate of inflation:
Consumers can use the Personal Inflation Calculator of the Federal Statistical Office to adapt their monthly consumption expenditure on individual product groups according to their own consumption patterns and to calculate their personal inflation rate. In addition, the Price Kaleidoscope gives an overview of the price trend and the weights of various products.
Overall index / subindex | Weighting | Index 2020=100 | Change on same period of previous year | Change on the previous month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
in per mill | % | |||
| Overall index | 1,000.00 | 118.6 | 2.2 | 0.4 |
| Food and non-alcoholic-beverages | 119.04 | 131.7 | 0.2 | -0.2 |
| Food | 104.69 | 132.3 | -0.7 | -0.3 |
| Meat and meat products | 22.16 | 128.9 | 2.6 | -0.1 |
| Fruit | 11.62 | 117.6 | 4.2 | -1.0 |
| Vegetables | 13.72 | 128.8 | -14.7 | -2.5 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 35.26 | 121.2 | 5.2 | 0.5 |
| Clothing and footwear | 42.25 | 109.8 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels | 259.25 | 115.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 |
| Actual net rent exclusive of heating expenses | 68.30 | 107.1 | 2.2 | 0.2 |
| Imputed net rent exclusive of heating expenses | 104.13 | 106.3 | 2.0 | 0.3 |
| Household energy | 43.44 | 149.8 | -4.6 | -0.9 |
| Electricity | 24.50 | 127.5 | -8.1 | -0.9 |
| Gas 1 | 6.07 | 184.9 | -9.2 | -1.1 |
| Healting oil 1 | 1.70 | 206.8 | 0.4 | -4.0 |
| Furniture, lighting equipment, appliances and other household equipment | 67.78 | 118.4 | 1.3 | 0.0 |
| Health | 55.49 | 107.4 | 3.1 | 0.1 |
| Transport | 138.22 | 125.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 |
| Motor fuels | 30.46 | 145.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Supergrade petrol | 23.19 | 141.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| Diesel fuel | 6.92 | 154.4 | 0.0 | -1.1 |
| Communication | 23.35 | 99.6 | 0.5 | -0.3 |
| Recreation and culture | 104.23 | 114.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 |
| Package holidays | 13.22 | 121.7 | 4.3 | 6.8 |
| Education | 9.06 | 113.4 | 4.8 | 0.4 |
| Restaurant and accommodation services | 47.20 | 125.1 | 6.4 | 0.7 |
| Miscellaneous goods and services | 98.87 | 118.1 | 6.1 | 0.8 |
| Overall index, excluding food and energy 2 | 821.41 | 114.3 | 3.3 | 0.7 |
More information:
Detailed results can be found in the tables on the consumer price index (61111-0004) and (61111-0006) and on the harmonised index of consumer prices (61121-0002) and (61121-0006) in the GENESIS-Online database. Special items shown in Tables (61111-0006) and (61121-0006) contain CPI and HICP results which are used to measure "core inflation". The table "Verbraucherpreisindex – Preisentwicklung für Nahrungsmittel" (only in German) contains information on changes in the prices of individual food products.
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, has released provisional results on Euro area inflation for March 2024 (available on Eurostat’s website under News > Euro indicators).
Consumer price index results are also available on Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
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