–Adds Detail To Version Transmitted At 0845 GMT
LONDON (MNI) – UK input prices plunged on the month in April,
largely due to the fall in crude oil prices, taking the rate of yearly
input price inflation below that of output price inflation for the first
time since October 2009.
Input prices fell 1.5% on the month in April to stand up 1.2% on
the year, having been up 5.6% on the year in March. This vertiginous
fall in the yearly rate of input price inflation took the rate below the
3.3% yearly rise in output prices in April.
The 1.2% yearly rise in input prices was also the lowest since
October 2009. National Statistics said the 1.5% monthly fall was mainly
due to the declines in crude oil prices, imported metals and other
imported parts and equipment.
The detailed data showed that by far and away the largest downward
contribution to the 1.5% monthly fall in input prices came from crude
oil. Crude oil knocked 1.44 percentage points off the 1 month percentage
change in crude oil prices.
The next biggest downward impact came from imported metals, which
knocked 0.14 percentage point off the monthly rate and then imported
parts and equipment, which knocked 0.13 percentage points off the rate.
For the 1.2% yearly rate of input price inflation, the biggest
downward impact came from imported metals, which took away 0.58
percentage points. Crude oil’s impact on the yearly rate was marginal,m
subtracting just 0.05 percentage points.
Output prices rose 0.7% and were up 3.3% on the year, down from
3.7% on the year in March, with the yearly rate the lowest since
December 2009.
Core output prices were up 2.3% on the year in April compared with
up 2.5% in March.
The fall in input prices was larger than analysts had anticipated
but the decline in output prices was less.
–London bureau: 0044 20 7634 1624; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,MABDS$]
