Press release

• HWWI overall index declines by 1.3% (US dollar basis)
• Energy raw material price index declines by 1.5%
• CIndustrial raw material price index rises slightly by 0.9%

(Hamburg, December 13, 2022) As in the previous month, the HWWI Commodity Price Index continued to decline in November (-1.3%). The sub-indices for energy commodities and for food and beverages declined slightly, while the index for industrial commodities rose moderately (+ 0.9%).

Index for energy raw materials: Decreasing prices for coal and crude oil, slight increase in natural gas price

After the sub-index for natural gas prices fell significantly in October (-27.6%), it rose again slightly by 4.5% in November. It was 29.9% higher than the gas price in November 2021.
The sub-index for coal continued to decline. It fell by a further 11.9 % compared to the previous month, having already fallen by 12.7 % in October. Weak growth prospects and the announced higher coal production in Indonesia, China and India for 2023 have a dampening effect on prices. However, compared to November 2021, the sub-index has still more than doubled (+109.6%).

The sub-index for crude oil fell by 3.8% in November and was thus 8.8% higher than in the same month last year.

Overall, the energy raw materials sub-index fell by 1.5% (euro basis: -5.1%) in November to 330.9 points (euro basis: 372.2 points).

Index for industrial raw materials: Falling prices for iron ore and steel scrap, slight increase for agricultural raw materials

The sub-index for industrial raw materials developed differently in November. A slight increase (0.5%) was recorded for agricultural raw materials.

The more eased situation in prices for industrial raw materials that has been observed for several months compared to the beginning of the year continued in November. The index for industrial raw materials is 15.4% lower than in November 2021.

The price index for non-ferrous metals rose by 5.1% in November.

The price index for iron ore and steel scrap fell by 8.7%. Here, the growth outlook, impacted by rising interest rates and high inflation, is having a dampening effect on demand and thus prices.

Overall, the index for industrial raw materials increased by 0.9% (euro basis: 2.8%) to 118.3 points (euro basis: 132.7 points) on a monthly average in November.

Index for food and beverages almost steady

The sub-index for food and beverages fell slightly by 1.4% in November. It was thus only 4.1% higher than the corresponding figure for November 2021.

Overall, the index for food and beverages fell by an average of 1.4% for the month (euro basis: 5.0%) and stood at 153.4 points (euro basis: 171.9 points).

The HWWI Commodity Price Index is a comprehensive, weekly calculated indicator of price
developments in world commodity markets, which includes the major internationally traded commodities. Since 1960, the HWWI Commodity Price Index measures the price changes in the raw material import calculation of the industrialized countries and is thus an indicator for the cost development of imported raw materials and serves among other things central banks, research institutes and international institutions for their analyses.