Wholesale Price Index in Germany

Measures the change in selling prices charged by wholesalers in Germany (Großhandel), the prices at which merchants sell raw materials, semi-finished and finished goods —both domestic and imported— to retailers and businesses before final resale. It is published by Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office.

Based on a monthly Destatis survey of wholesale firms covering the selling prices (excluding VAT) of a representative basket of goods. An index with a 2021=100 base is compiled, from which the month-on-month and year-on-year rates of change are derived.

It is a leading gauge of inflationary pressure, since moves in wholesale prices tend to feed through to consumer prices (CPI) with a lag. A hotter-than-expected reading points to rising costs along the distribution chain and can firm up ECB rate expectations, tending to support the euro.

As the series is not seasonally adjusted, the monthly change can be volatile for seasonal or calendar reasons. Moreover, because it aggregates highly heterogeneous goods, a shock in one sub-sector (energy, metals) can move the headline index without reflecting the underlying trend.