Factory Gate Prices At A Low

The producer price index, which measures the changes in input and output prices of goods bought and sold by manufacturers in the UK, reported an annual increase in December of 4.8%, the lowest annual rate for factory gate prices for home sales of manufactured products since December 2010. The monthly index fell by 0.2%, the first monthly fall since July 2010.

Over the year the biggest percentage increases were in petroleum products (10.5%), food products (7.1%) and tobacco and alcohol (6.6%).

The total input price index rose by 8.7% in the year to December, the lowest annual rate since October 2010. It was 13.6% the previous month. The monthly index fell by 0.6%.

The biggest percentage changes in the month to December were falls in the prices for petroleum products and chemicals and pharmaceuticals (both -0.9%) and increases in the prices of food, paper and printing and computer, electrical and optical (all 0.1%).

The producer price index provides a key measure of inflation along with other indicators like the CPI and the RPI.

Factory Gate Prices Up 5.7%

The producer prices index from the ONS tells us that factory gate prices for home sales of manufactured goods increased 5.7% in the year June compared with 5.4% in May. The price excluding the more volatile sectors such as food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 3.2%. The output price excluding excise duty increased by 5.8%.

Over ther month between May and June the output price index rose by 0.1%. The increase mainly reflects increases in the prices of food and other manufatures.

Producer Prices Up

Output prices for home sales of manufactured products increased by 4.4% in September 2010 over 2009 compared with 4.9% in the year to August and 4.6% excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum. The monthly index between August and September rose 0.3%. Input prices for the fuel and materials bought by manufacturers increased by 9.5% over the year to September and 0.7% over the month. Import prices increased by 0.9% over the month. Manufacturing inputs excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 6.4%.

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.

Output And Input Prices Up In December

Output prices rose overall by 3.5% in the year to December, compared with a 2.9% rise in the year to November. The index rose 0.5% between November and December mainly due to price rises in food, electrical products, transport equipment and other manufactured products. Input prices for materials and fuels rose 6.9% in the year to December compared with 4% in the year to November and 0.1% between November and December 2009 comapred with a fall of 2.6% between November and December 2008.

Output prices rose across the board the most significant rise being in petroleum products at 16%. Other significant increases over the year were in transport at 4.2% and electrical and optical at 3.8%. In the month to December the changes were included increases in transport at 1.2%, electrical and optical at 1.1% and other products at 1.2%. There was a decrease of 0.2% in tobacco and alcohol.

Details of input price changes over the year to December show a 65.9% increase in crude oil prices, and a decrease of 18.7% in fuel prices. Imported metals went up by 5.8% and other imported materials by 4.3%. Other significant downward price changes were in home food materials by 5.6% and imported food materials by 2%. In the month to December the significant price changes were a downward change of 2.2% in crude oil prices. other changes included a 1.1% increase in the price of fuels, 1.2% increase in imported metals and 1% in the price of imported food materials.

Petroleum Prices Push Up Producer Prices

The producer prices statistics for November show that input prices for home sales of manufactured goods went up 2.9% in the year to November (1.9% in October) and 0.2% in the month between October and November (0.9% same period 2008). Input prices for the manufacturing industry went up 4% over the year to November (0.4% in October) and 0.1% in the month between October and November (3.3% same period 2008).

The main contributions to the changes in the output price index over the year were petroleum products, tobacco and alcohol. Over the last month to November the main contributions were from petroleum products and food. The biggest contribution to the change in the input prices was from crude oil with a 30.3% rise in price, the largest annual rise since the 45.4% rise in September 2008, and imported parts ands equipment. Crude oil and fuel were the main contributors to the change in the index over the month.

Producer Prices Increase 0.4%

Output prices of manufactured products increased by 0.4% in the year to September compared to August when they fell by 0.3%. Prices increased over the month between August and September by 0.5%. The changes reflect increases in the prices of petroleum products of 2% and changes in duty on petroleum products which is estimated to have added 0.2% to the output index. Unleaded petrol is reported to have increased by 2.6% between August and September but decreased by 3.1% over the last year. Prices excluding excise duties fell by 0.6% over the year and increased by 0.4% on the month and excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 1.4% over the year and 0.5% over the month.

Input prices for materials and fuels fell by 6.5% over the year to September and fell 0.5% over the month. It compares with a fall of 7.7% in the year to August. The manufacturing index fell 0.5% between August and September compared with 1.7% for the same time last year. The fall reflects the fall of 4.4% in the price of crude oil for the month and 24.1% over the year. Imported materials increased by 1% over the month to September offsetting the fall. The index excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum fell by 1.7%.