BERLIN, Jan 26 - German import prices fell by 0.5 percent month-on-month in December and by 2.5 percent year-on-year, more sharply than economists had expected, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Monday. The office also reported that 2003 import prices were 1.8 percent lower, on average, than 2002's. Economists polled by had on average predicted a fall of 0.2 percent in comparison to November and a rise of 2.2 percent from a year ago. "The generally weak world economy, and the strong appreciation in the euro over the course of the year led not just to drop in the price of raw materials and intermediate goods, but also to imported finished products becoming cheaper," the office said in a statement. Excluding mineral oils, import prices fell by 0.3 percent compared with November and by 1.7 percent year-on-year.
Compared with November, there were falls in the prices of citrus fruits, down 7.1 percent, pork, which fell 5.2 percent, and diesel fuel, which was down by three percent. Over the same period, the price of coffee rose by 3.3 percent. On the year, there were falls in the price of cocoa, down 32.5 percent, coffee, which was down 14.9 percent, crude oil, which fell 10.3 percent, oil products, down eight percent, fish products, down 7.9 percent, pork, down 4.6 percent, and natural gas, down 4.2 percent. By contrast, a number of products were more expensive than a year earlier, including non-precious metal ores, whose prices rose 12.3 percent, copper, up 12.4 percent, coal, up 11.6 percent, fertilizers, up 10.9 percent, and apples, up 5.6 percent. In November import prices were unchanged from the previous month and down 0.1 percent from a year earlier.//