February 19, 2006	Sunday	Muharram 20, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The wholesale price of major commodities increased by 10.76 per cent during January 2006 over the same month of the last year.

Official figures released by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) on Saturday, showed that the wholesale price recorded a growth of 1.28 per cent during the month under review over the previous month of December 2005.

The growth in the wholesale price was attributed to increase in the oil and energy prices and increase in the price of raw materials in the international market.

The data showed that the wholesale price of finished goods rose by 7.18 per cent; raw materials 17.41 per cent; fuel, lighting and lubricants by 27.43 per cent; and manufactures 3.41 per cent during the January 2006 over the same month last year.

However, the wholesale price of building materials declined by 4.21 per cent over the same month last year.

The main commodities which showed an increase in their prices during January 2006 over the previous month were tomatoes (110.82pc); vegetables (22.44pc); mash (7.25pc); moong (5.03pc); gram whole (3.42pc); fresh fruits (2.89pc); gur (1.65pc); oil cake (1.53pc); jowar (1.20pc), wheat (0.88pc), sugarcane (18.75pc) and cotton (1.96pc), coke (20.83pc), natural gas (15.51pc), firewood (1.33pc), cotton yarn (1.21pc), readymade garments (1.05pc) and timber (1.05pc).

The prices of following commodities declined during the month included eggs (9.65pc), potatoes (6.91pc), masoor (2.06pc), chicken (2.03pc), mineral water (1.17pc), besan (1.16pc), hides (1.42pc), skins (1.32pc), electrical goods (1.47pc) and iron bar and sheets (3.18pc).