UK January manufacturers' raw material costs - an indication of pipeline inflation - rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8pc from December, according to figures released today by National Statistics. On a year-on-year basis, input prices rose 3.7pc from January 2002. This is the biggest year-on-year increase since May 2001. The rise in input prices last month was smaller than expected. The median forecast of economists was for a 0.9pc rise on the month for a 3.5pc year-on-year gain.
The rise in input prices was largely due to higher oil prices, NS said. Crude oil prices surged 6.5pc on the month, adding 1.16pc to the overall input price increase. The latest jump in oil prices left them up 41.0pc on the year. The core measure of input prices, which excludes oil prices along with the prices of food, beverages, and tobacco, was down 0.2pc on the month leaving it 0.7pc down on a year-on-year basis. Output prices of manufactured products were up 0.4pc in January from the previous month, and were up 1.6pc from a year ago. //www.fxcentre.com