Mubasher: Germany’s producer prices retreated to a seven-month trough in December 2018, official figures showed on Monday.

Producer prices jumped 2.7% on year last December, slowing from 3.3% gain recorded in November, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said.

This was the lowest reading since May 2018, when prices rose 2.5% on an annual basis.

The price indices of all major industrial segments rose in December 2018, compared with the prior year.

While energy prices climbed 6.9%, prices of both intermediate goods and durable goods rose 1.9%.

Prices for capital goods went up 1.4% year-on-year last month, while those for non-durable goods ticked up 0.5%.

Stripping out energy, producer price inflation was stable on month, taking the annual growth to 1.6% last month.

Producer prices declined 0.4% month-on-month during last December, versus the prior month’s 0.1% gain, the first decline in ten months.

For the full year, producer prices rose 2.6%, slightly lower than a 2.7% increase in the preceding year.

By 12:09 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair went up 0.04% to $1.1368.