The price of goods bought and sold by UK manufacturers, as estimated by the Producer Price Index, rose in the year to July 2016 following 2 years of falls.

Factory gate prices (output prices) for goods produced by UK manufacturers rose 0.3% in the year to July 2016, compared with a fall of 0.2% in the year to June 2016.

This is the first time that factory gate prices have increased on the year since June 2014. The index has been following an upward trend since August 2015. The increase of 0.3% in the year to July 2016 is therefore a continuation of the trend over the past 11 months.

Core factory gate prices, which exclude the more volatile food, beverage, tobacco and petroleum products, rose 1.0% in the year to July 2016, compared with a rise of 0.7% in the year to June 2016.

The overall price of materials and fuels bought by UK manufacturers for processing (total input prices) rose 4.3% in the year to July 2016, compared with a fall of 0.5% in the year to June 2016.

Similar to factory gate prices, total input prices have also been following an upward trend in recent months. With the exception of April 2016, the annual rate has been trending upwards since November 2015.