German Wholesale Prices Rise the Fastest in 26 Years

German Wholesale Prices Rise the Fastest in 26 Years

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- German wholesale prices jumped the most in 26 years in May, increasing the inflation pressure in Europe's largest economy.

Wholesale prices surged 8.1 percent from a year earlier to the highest rate since February 1982, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. From April, prices increased 1.4 percent.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet stepped up his inflation- fighting rhetoric on June 5, saying the bank may raise borrowing costs as soon as next month even with economic growth slowing. In Germany, surging oil and food prices pushed inflation to 3 percent last month and import prices increased more than economists expected in April.

``German prices for goods in the production pipeline are all on the way up,'' said Stefan Bielmeier, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt. ``Price pressures remain high, which means that inflation risks will stay on the upside.''

Crude oil prices have more than doubled in the past year, reaching an all-time high of $139.12 a barrel on June 6, adding pressure on companies to pass on higher costs.

German producer-price inflation accelerated to 5.2 percent in April from 4.2 percent in the previous month. Import prices unexpectedly held at 5.7 percent in April from a year earlier.

U.S., U.K., China

In the U.S., prices paid to producers excluding food and fuel, rose twice as much as forecast in April. U.K. producer prices increased at the quickest pace in two decades in May and China's producer-price inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in more than three years in April.

BASF SE, the world's largest chemicals maker based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, said on June 5 it plans to raise prices ``significantly'' at its crop-protection unit as rising demand allows the company to pass on higher raw-material costs.

The ECB last week raised its inflation forecast for the economy of the 15 euro nations, predicting annual gains in consumer prices will average about 3.4 percent this year and 2.4 percent in 2009. It previously forecast inflation of around 2.9 percent this year and 2.1 percent next.

Trichet wrote in an article in Spain's La Gaceta de los Negocios published today that it's ``not a time for complacency'' on inflation. ECB council member Klaus Liebscher told Oesterreich newspaper that he hopes that ``oil-producing nations are aware of their responsibility.''

Wholesale prices of mineral oil products increased 21 percent in the month, today's report showed. Prices of iron, steel and non-iron metals rose 9.1 percent in the year. Milk, dairy products, eggs and nutritional oils were 16 percent more expensive from a year earlier.

The statistics office will release final inflation figures for Germany on June 13.

BLOOMBERG