The rise in prices in Germany continues to accelerate.
In November, the prices of goods imported into Germany rose by 24.7 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden.
That is the highest rate since October 1974 during the first oil price crisis.
In October, import prices were up 21.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
Analysts had expected another significant increase, but only with an average of 22.3 percent.
Compared to the previous month, import prices also rose sharply by 3.0 percent in November.
However, this is a slight decrease compared to the October value of 3.8 percent.
The rise in prices is still particularly evident in the case of imported energy, which was 160 percent more expensive than a year ago.
Natural gas was almost four times as expensive as a year earlier.
The import prices for oil and mineral products roughly doubled.
Electric power recorded the highest price increase year-on-year with a plus of 360 percent.
The high price increases are based on clearly noticeable tensions in the global trade in goods, which can mainly be attributed to the corona pandemic.
Intermediate goods such as ores, metals, plastics, fertilizers and nitrogen compounds that were bought from abroad were much more expensive in November than a year ago - the increase here was 23 percent, according to the statisticians.
So-called capital goods such as cars, notebooks or smartphones were almost four percent more expensive.
The prices for agricultural goods such as coffee and grain were 19.5 percent higher.