BERLIN, Sept 15 (Reuters) – German wholesale prices rose at their fastest rate in more than three years in August, as the conflict in Iran and the Middle East drives up costs for energy products and raw materials in particular, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday.
Wholesale prices – an early indicator of inflation trends – increased by 6.8% in August compared with the same month last year, according to the office.
The last higher monthly reading was February 2023 at 9.5%, said the office.
Compared with the previous month, prices saw a 0.9% rise.
“As in previous months, the price increase registered in August 2026 was largely attributable to the conflict in Iran and the Middle East, which resulted in higher wholesale prices of energy products and raw materials, in particular,” it said.
Prices for petroleum products surged by 36.1% on the year, while prices for chemical products rose by 13.6%.
German inflation has been hovering above the European Central Bank’s 2% target since the start of the war in Iran in late February, with a latest reading of 2.9% in August.
ECB executive board member Isabel Schnabel called the recent energy price increases “quite concerning” on Monday, and the central bank last week raised interest rates for the second time this year and revised up many of its inflation forecasts.
(Reporting by Rene Wagner and Miranda Murray in Berlin,Additional reporting by Tristan Veyet in GdanskEditing by Ludwig Burger)
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