UK producer price data points up continuing inflationary pressure

Prices for materials and fuels purchased by manufacturers rose 2.9 percent in January, the government said Monday in a report which highlighted continuing inflationary pressures.

The input price index rose 19.1 percent in the most recent 12 months, mainly because of rising prices of crude oil and UK-produced food, the Office for National Statistics said.

The input price index for manufacturing industry excluding the food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum industries rose 2.3 percent in January and 7.3 percent in the year to January, the agency said.

In a separate report, the statistics agency said the U.K. trade deficit narrowed slightly in December to 4.7 billion pounds (euro6.3 billion; US$9.15 billion), compared with 4.8 million pounds in November, the government said Monday.

The deficit on goods and services for all of 2007 was provisionally estimated to be 51 billion pounds (euro68.5 billion; US$99.3 billion), up from 46.4 billion pounds in 2006, the Office for National Statistics said.

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On the Net: http://www.statistics.gov.uk