ISLAMABAD, April 12: The wholesale price of commodities has increased by 7.02 per cent during the July-March of the current fiscal year over the same period of last year.

Official figures released here by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Thursday showed the wholesale price of commodities rose by 6.11 per cent during the month of March 2007 over the same month last year.

The 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.

The commodities, which recorded growth at wholesale level in March, 2007 in comparison to February 2007 are Food: Eggs (21.20 per cent), vegetables (12.28 per cent), tomatoes (12.09 per cent), fresh fruits (8.08 per cent), chicken (7.37 per cent), rice (5.86 per cent), beans (4.87 per cent), jowar (2.97 per cent), powdered milk (2.77 per cent), vegetables prepared and preserved (2.66 per cent), milk food (2.62 per cent), cottonseed oil (2.04 per cent), fruit prepared and preserved (1.79 per cent), maize (1.71 per cent), spices (1.14 per cent) and bajra (1.01 per cent).

Among the raw materials, price of hides rose by (1.21 per cent), cotton (1.96 per cent); firewood (8.16 per cent), furnace oil (8.05 per cent); footwear (17.40 per cent), fertiliser (2.80 per cent), machinery (2.72 per cent); tiles (5.74 per cent), Iron bars and sheets (3.47 per cent), timber (3.37 per cent) and bricks (3.13 per cent).

The main commodities, which showed a decrease in their prices during March, 2007 over February, are Food: Onions (25.75 per cent), gram split (19.53 per cent), besan (13.52 per cent), gram whole (7.46 per cent), potatoes (6.50 per cent), oil cakes (6.01 per cent), masoor (1.44 per cent), mustard rapeseed (6.47 per cent), cottonseed (1.02 per cent), drugs and medicines (1.46 per cent) and cement (9.10 per cent).