By Andrew Logan and Lucy O’Carroll.
As a consequence of their method of calculation, existing commodity price indices do not provide an accurate summary measure of commodity price pressures in the UK economy. The Bank has therefore constructed a new commodity price index, which it uses in its analysis of inflationary pressures in the Inflation Report. This article outlines how it is constructed, compares its recent trends with those of other major indices, and assesses how informative the Bank index is about price movements further along the supply chain.
The Bank’s new UK commodity price index