FRANKFURT : The cost of goods at the factory gate in Germany posted its second record drop running in August after energy costs fell from highs a year earlier, federal data showed on Friday.

Producer prices shed 6.9 percent on a 12-month basis to reach the same level as September 2007, the Destatis federal statistics office said. This was less than the 7.2 percent drop forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

In July, producer prices in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, had already shed 6.6 percent -- their steepest drop since records began in 1949.

On a monthly basis they nonetheless climbed in August for the first time in 11 months, by 0.5 percent, Destatis said.

The results are largely due to a spike in energy prices in mid-2008, which by comparison makes this year's prices show a considerable decline.