German Wholesale Prices Rise 6.8 Percent, the Fastest Since February 2023
German wholesale selling prices rose 6.8 percent in August against the same month of 2025 and 0.9 percent against July. The Federal Statistical Office published the figures on Tuesday. It is the third consecutive acceleration, after 4.9 percent in June and 5.3 percent in July, and the Office says a higher rate was last recorded in February 2023, when it was 9.5 percent.
The Office names the cause directly, and it is not a domestic one.
Three months of acceleration
| Wholesale selling prices | Annual change |
|---|---|
| June 2026 | +4.9% |
| July 2026 | +5.3% |
| August 2026 | +6.8% |
As published by the Federal Statistical Office. The monthly change in August was 0.9 percent.
The step from July to August is 1.5 percentage points on our calculation, larger than the two preceding steps combined.
In its own words the Office says that, as in previous months, the price increase registered in August 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.
That is a national statistical office attributing a domestic price index to a specific foreign conflict, in a press release, for the third month running. It is worth reading as written.
Two product groups carry the increase
| Wholesale selling prices by product group, August 2026 | On August 2025 | On July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Mineral oil products | +36.1% | +4.8% |
| Non ferrous ores, metals and semi finished metal products | +27.4% | +1.3% |
| Chemical products | +13.6% | +0.3% |
| Computers and peripheral equipment | +11.1% | +1.5% |
| Meat and meat products | -6.7% | -0.9% |
| Milk, milk products, eggs, edible fats and oils | -10.3% | -0.6% |
| Live animals | -18.3% | -1.0% |
As published by the Federal Statistical Office. The base year of the index is 2021.
The Office names mineral oil products as the main reason for the year on year increase in the total, at 36.1 percent, with non ferrous ores, metals and semi finished metal products having what it calls a considerable impact at 27.4 percent. Those two lines are the pass through channel, and both of them price off world markets rather than German ones.
The falls are all food. Live animals fell 18.3 percent on the year, milk, milk products, eggs and edible fats and oils 10.3 percent, and meat and meat products 6.7 percent. A German wholesaler in August was paying sharply more for energy and metals and sharply less for protein.
Why it matters: wholesale prices are running far ahead of anything in German consumer inflation, and the Office has now attributed three consecutive accelerations to the same cause, energy and raw material prices driven by the conflict in Iran and the Middle East. The product detail makes that concrete: 36.1 percent on mineral oil products and 27.4 percent on non ferrous metals, against falls across the food groups. That is a cost shock arriving through imported inputs rather than a demand story. The contrast with Saudi Arabia on the same morning is instructive, since Saudi wholesale prices fell on the month and turned down on the year for the first time since March, the Kingdom being on the supply side of the same energy market that is raising German costs. The last time German wholesale prices were higher than this was February 2023, in the aftermath of the previous energy shock.
Outlook: the Office publishes September wholesale prices in the middle of October. The immediate test is whether energy and raw material costs keep pushing the index higher after August’s 0.9 percent monthly increase. Sustained wholesale cost pressure can reach retail prices eventually, but the timing and the size depend on margins, contracts and demand, and none of that is settled by this release. The clearest line to watch is mineral oil products at 36.1 percent, which the Office itself identifies as the main driver.
Sources: Federal Statistical Office of Germany.
