ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: The wholesale prices of commodities increased by 7.46 per cent in November from a year earlier, showing a rise in the cost of production. Official figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) indicated that the wholesale prices of commodities witnessed 0.89 per cent increase in major commodities over October 2006.

The WPI’s major changes in average ex-factory and wholesale prices of 425 items grouped into five broad categories. The categories include food items, raw material, fuel, lighting and lubricants, manufacturing and building material.

This means that the prices of these commodities would record an increase in the next few months at retail level which would further reduce the purchasing power of consumers.

The statistics showed that the food prices at wholesale stage recorded a growth of 9.11 per cent during the month of November 2006 over the same period last year, raw material 13.22 per cent, fuel 7.88 per cent, manufactures 3.12 per cent and building material 2.61 per cent.

The main commodities, which showed increase in prices during November 2006 as against October 2006 include food: onion (56.19pc), egg (23.71pc), potato (17.71pc), oil cake (8.78pc), maize (7.95pc), gram whole (7.08pc), masoor (5.21pc), sugar refined (3.87pc), dry fruits (3.51pc), mustard and rapeseed oil (3.06pc), jawar (2.50pc), gram split (1.49pc), spices (1.46pc), besan(1.38pc), powder milk (1.22pc), fresh milk (1.02pc), wheat (0.94pc) and wheat flour (0.77pc).

Raw material: Sugarcane (14.21pc), cotton seeds (10.40pc), hides (8.17pc), mustard/rapeseeds (6.19pc) and tobacco (1.09pc). Manufactures: Hosiery (2.89pc), mattresses (2.51pc) and soap (1.08pc). fuel and lighting: mobil oil (3.59pc). Building material: wire and cables (8.40pc) and iron bars and sheets (2.33pc).