HC Deb 27 July 1982 vol 28 cc457-8W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will break down the information concerning manufacturers' input prices given in his written reply dated 19 April, Official Report, c. 6, into fuels and other materials.

Mr. Wakeham

The following table provides the required information on input prices:

Year on Year Increases in the Price of Manufacturers' Inputs of Materials and Fuels Purchased
Materials* Fuels† Per cent. Total
1977 on 1976 +14 +18 +15
1978 on 1977 -2 +9 -1
1979 on 1978 +16 +12 +16
1980 on 1979 +19 +27 +20
1981 on 1980 +13 +18 +14

* Includes coal for carbonising and crude oil (the raw material for the mineral oil refining sector).

† Coal (except for carbonising), gas and electricity. The index numbers are constructed on a net sector basis so that transactions between undertakings in the same sector are excluded. The use of refined oil as a fuel represents a transaction within the manufacturing sector and so price movements in petroleum products are excluded from the total manufacturing index (though not for individual manufacturing sectors, other than muneral oil refining). Thus, index numbers for the whole of manufacturing industry are not weighted averages of sector index numbers.