ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: The wholesale prices of commodities increased by eight per cent in December 2006 from a year earlier. Official figures released by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Friday indicated that wholesale prices of commodities witnessed a 0.37 per cent increase as against 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 materials.

The statistics showed that food price at wholesale stage recorded a growth of 10.02 per cent during the month of Dec 2006 over last year month, raw materials 16.67 per cent, fuel 7.85 per cent, manufactures 2.39 per cent and building material 4.57 per cent.

The main commodities which showed an increase in their prices during December, 2006 over November, 2006 are as under: Food: Tomatoes (111.19pc), onion (23.31pc), eggs (21.07pc), oil cakes (8.32pc), cotton seed oil (5.84pc), vegetable ghee (4.65pc), mustard and rapeseed oil (4.05 pc), bajra (3.08pc), wheat (3.04pc), spices (3.02pc), cooking oil (2.58pc), dry fruits (2.38pc), gram whole and beans (1.85pc each), rice (1.61pc), jowar (0.90pc) and fresh milk (0.84pc).

Raw material: Hides (6.57pc), cotton (5.33pc), sugarcane (3.69pc), cotton seed (2.21pc) and skins (0.89pc).Fuel, lighting & lubricants: Fire wood (1.81pc). Manufactures: Dyeing materials (2.51pc), tyres (1.83pc) and nylon yarn (1.07pc). Building material: Iron bars and sheets (0.59pc).