German mail prices remain much cheaper than European average

Mail prices for standard letters in Germany have decreased at double-digit rates over the past10 years remaining lower than in other European countries, according to the annual European letter

The study results showed that Deutsche Post mail customers continue to profit from a significantprice advantage compared to other countries.

The current letter price study by Deutsche Post comparing 29 European countries revealed a pricedecrease of 17% in 10 years for German standard letters when taking inflation into account. Themost recent price increase for a standard letter in Germany took place 13 years ago, in 1998. Aftera price decrease in 2003, prices have remained stable for the past eight years.

In a purely nominal comparison, the German letter price of 55 cents is a mid-fielder compared toother European countries. In contrast, the real price considering the inflation has nowhere droppedso dramatically as in Germany except for Italy amounting to a 17% decrease between 1999 and 2009.In other countries, on the contrary, the real price for a normal standard letter increased by 28%on average during the same period, the study revealed.

In addition to the purely nominal price comparison, economic factors such as labour costs andpurchasing power parity have also been taken into account in the comparison. According to thiscalculation, the letter price in Germany is significantly below the European average. The price forsending a letter from Germany to other European countries (the Europabrief) also ranks with 70cents below the European average of 80 cents in a nominal comparison, Deutsche Post DHL added.