UK producer input prices fall 2.3% in year to Aug; output prices 0.4%

Producer output (factory gate) prices fell by 0.4 per cent during the duration—up from a revised fall of 0.7 per cent in the year to July.

On a monthly basis, producer input prices rose by 0.4 per cent and output prices rose by 0.2 per cent in August.

Crude oil and petroleum products provided the largest downward contributions to the annual rates of input and output inflation respectively, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a release.

While annual producer price inflation rates have recently turned negative, with prices in some sectors falling, the index levels for both input and output prices remain substantially higher than their 2021 levels.

The annual inflation rate of the input producer price index (PPI) was negative for the third consecutive month. However, there is a month-on-month rise in the rate for the first time since reaching its record high in June 2022.

The annual inflation rate of the output PPI was negative for the second consecutive month, although this too has seen a month-on-month rise in the rate for the first time since July 2022.

The index levels for both input and output prices have remained high since July 2022. The small decreases seen in the past few months, when compared with the broadly stable values over the past year, have created a fall in the annual inflation rate, even though the index levels remain high.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)