The rising price of crude oil increased costs for British manufacturing companies by more than expected in July, official statistics showed today.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said producer input prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8 per cent last month, against analysts' expectations for a rise of 1.5 per cent. That increased the annual rate to 13.4 per cent.
Oil, which has been trading near record levels, was mainly blamed for the price surge. The ONS said the crude oil component of the input price index rose by 9.0 per cent month-on-month and 57.2 per cent in the year to July - the largest annual rise since October 2000.
The data showed signs that producers are beginning to pass on their increased costs to customers.
Output prices rose an unadjusted 0.7 per cent in July, bringing the annual rate of factory gate inflation to 3.0 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent in June and higher than the 2.4 per cent forecast by analysts.
The data will unlikely cause alarm among monetary policymakers, who have said they expect rising crude oil prices to drive up inflation.
