August 13, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 17, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: The wholesale price of major commodities increased by 8.43 per cent in July 2006, over the same month last year.

Official figures available with Dawn indicated that the wholesale price rose by 1.42 per cent in the month under review, over June 2006.

The wholesale price index (WPI) measures changes in average ex-factory and wholesale prices of 425 items grouped into five broad categories. The categories include food items, raw materials, fuel, lighting and lubricants, manufacturing and building materials.

Analysts said the constant increase in prices of goods at the wholesale stage would ultimately affect prices at the retail level in the next months. This will further push inflation (consumer price index) up in the months ahead and will put more pressure on consumers.

The increase in prices at wholesale level showed that the input costs increased manifold, besides greater demand for manufactured goods. It cannot be curtailed until the government takes some administrative measures to reduce the impact at the retail stage.

Prices of food at the wholesale stage registered a growth of 8.43 per cent; fuel, lighting and lubricants 18.43 per cent, manufacturing 4.14 per cent and building materials 4.17 per cent in July 2006, over the same month last year.

The main commodities, which showed an increase in their prices in July over June 2006, were Food: tomatoes (72.41pc), onion (19.32pc), vegetables (14.57pc), chicken (13.61pc), beans (6.73pc), fresh fruits (5.04pc), eggs (4.33pc), salt (2.85pc), moong (2.53pc), gur (2.39pc), mustard and rapeseed oil (2.30pc), oil cake (2.21pc), mash (1.84pc), besan (1.76pc), sugar (1.76pc), vegetable ghee (1.32pc), wheat flour(1.28pc), fruits prepared, preserved (1.22pc), rice (1.12pc), and potatoes (1.02pc); cotton seed (8.75pc), mustard/rapeseed (4.22pc), tobacco (2.02pc); hides (1.27pc), natural gas (9.95pc); mobile oil (5.93pc); chemicals (3.88pc), blended yarn (1.69pc), transport (1.66pc), jute manufacturing (1.56pc), tubes (1.51pc) and pesticides and insecticides (1.10pc).