Industrial Input Prices Continue To Fall

The index for factory gate prices for goods purchased by UK manufacturers rose by 0.2% in the year to June compared with a 0.5% rise to May. Input prices continue to fall. The monthly comparison shows that factory gate prices fell between May and June by 0.2% compared with 0.1% between April and May. Materials and fuels prices fell by 4.4% over the year to June compared with a fall of 3.8% to May. Between May and June input prices fell by 0.8% compared with an increase of 0.3% between April and May.

Pricen Rises For Producers In October

Output prices for home sales of manufactured goods rose 4% in the year to October and 0.6% over the month. Input prices for materials and fuels for manufacturing rose by 8% in the year to October and 2.1% over the month.

On the output side, petroleum products increased by 10.6% and chemicals and pharmaceuticals by 6% over the year while clothing, textiles and leather increased by only 1.4%. Within the inputs imported metals increased by 20.5% and crude oil increased by 16.2%. Fuel fell by 4.8% over the year to October.

Factory Gate Prices Increase Again

Output prices for home sales of manufactured goods went up 5.7% over the year to April 2010 compared to 5% to March. Excluding excise duties changes the increase was 5.3% over the year and 1.3% over the month. The monthly index rose 1.4% between March and April.

Input prices went up 13.1% in the year and 0.6% over the month. The increase mainly reflects the increases in the price of crude oil and imported metals. Imported materials increased in price by 0.8% between March and April.

5% Increase In Factory Gate Prices

Output prices for home sales of manufactured products increased by 5% in year to March, from 4.2% last month and 0.9% between February and March. The increase mainly reflects the 24.8% increase in output price for petroleum products over the year. It is the highest increase since September 2008. Electrical and optical increased by 6.3% and chemicals by 4.5%. Excise duties did not contribute that much to the increase. The output price index excluding volatile priced products like food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 3.6% in the year and 0.7% in the month to March. The output price of petroleum products increased 3.9% over the month. The index for paper products is the lowest it has been since January 2006.

Input prices for materials and fuel for the manufacturing industries increased by 10.1% in the year and 3.6% in the month to March. The increases mainly reflect the 60% increase in price for crude oil and 14.4% increase in price for imported metals over the year. Imported materials as a whole increased 4.4% between February and March. If the more volatile categories are excluded the index increased 4% over the year and 1.1% in the month between February and March. The price of crude oil increased 9.7% in the month between February and March and imported metals 5.3%. It is the largest monthly rise since records began in February 1991.

The producer price index is important because because it provides a key inflation measure as important as the CPI or the RPI and works on a similar 'basket of goods' principle. The current data is from the statistical release from the Office for National Statistics for March 2010.

Fall In Prices At Factory Gate In August

The 'factory gate' or output producer prices annual inflation for all manufactured goods for consumer sales fell 0.4% in August. These are the prices manufacturers sell their goods. Input price annual inflation, the price at which they buy their materials, fell 7.5% in August compared with 12.2% in July. Month on month output prices actually rose 0.2% in August and input prices rose 2.2%. The output index that leaves out the more volatile sectors like food, beverages, tobacco and petrol rose 0.7%. These index numbers reflect an increase in the price of crude oil and other imported materials of 1.6%.