Producer price inflation, UK: March 2026 including services, January to March 2026

• Producer input prices rose by 5.4% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised rise of 0.7% in the year to February.

• Producer output (factory gate) prices rose by 2.6% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised rise of 1.8% in the year to February.

• On a monthly basis, producer input prices rose by 4.4% and producer output (factory gate) prices rose by 0.9% in March 2026.

• The Import Price Index (IPI) rose by 4.2% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised rise of 0.6% in the year to February.

• Services producer prices rose by 3.0% in the year to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026, up from a revised rise of 2.8% in the year to Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025.

• On a quarterly basis, services producer prices rose by 0.8% in Quarter 1 2026.

• This quarter’s Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) estimates are being published with updated weights in line with the annual chain-linking methodology.

Producer input prices rose by 5.4% in the year to March 2026, which is up from a revised increase of 0.7% in the year to February (Figure 1). Monthly input prices rose by 4.4% in March 2026, up from a revised increase of 0.9% in February (Table 1).

Producer output (factory gate) prices rose by 2.6% in the year to March 2026, which is up from a revised increase of 1.8% in the year to February (Figure 1). Monthly output prices rose by 0.9% in March 2026, which is up from a fall of 0.5% in February (Table 1).

The largest contribution to the annual input producer price inflation rate was an upward contribution from inputs of crude oil. This was mainly caused by high monthly growth, where prices rose by 58.8% between February and March 2026. Find more detail in Table 3, in Section 3: Input prices.

The largest contribution to the annual output producer price inflation rate was an upward contribution from outputs of coke and refined petroleum products. This was mainly caused by high monthly growth, where prices rose by 20.6% between February and March 2026. Find more detail in Table 5, in Section 4: Output prices.

The data published this month are the first to be affected by the hostilities in the Middle East. For more information on the data used for oil and energy prices see Section 9: Data sources and quality.

Services producer prices rose by 3.0% in the year to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026. This is up from a revised increase of 2.8% in the year to Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025 (Figure 2). On a quarterly basis, prices rose by 0.8% in Quarter 1 2026, the same as for Quarter 4 2025 (Table 2).

The largest contribution to the annual services producer price inflation rate was an upward contribution from professional, scientific and technical services, where prices rose by 3.5% over the past year. Find more detail in Table 6, in Section 5: Services producer prices. 

Producer Price Index (PPI) estimates for both February and March 2026, and Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) estimates for Quarter 4 2025 and Quarter 1 2026 are provisional. PPI figures for the latest 12 months and SPPI figures for the latest four quarters are subject to revisions as additional survey data are returned and validated. Effective response rates at the time of first publishing can be found in Section 9: Data sources and quality.

Of the 10 product groups for the input Producer Price Index (PPI), 8 made upward contributions to the annual inflation rate in March 2026. The largest of these came from:

• inputs of crude oil
• inputs of metals and non-metallic mineral products

The prices of inputs of crude oil rose by 58.3% in the year to March 2026, compared with a revised decrease of 10.8% in the year to February (Table 3). Crude oil also provided the largest contribution to change in the annual inflation rate between February and March 2026, with prices rising by 58.8% in March 2026 compared with a rise of 9.1% in February 2026.

The prices of inputs of metals and non-metallic mineral products rose by 3.5% in the year to March 2026, compared with a revised increase of 4.5% in the year to February (Table 3). The annual price rise in March was partly caused by non-EU imports of precious metals.

The largest offsetting downward contribution to the annual inflation rate came from inputs of fuel. The prices of inputs of fuel fell by 4.8% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised fall of 5.1% in the year to February (Table 3). Fuel covers electricity and gas (D35) and coal (B05), according to Eurostat's Classification of products by activity (CPA 2.1).

The Import Price Index (prices of materials and fuels imported by UK manufacturers) rose by 4.2% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised increase of 0.6% in the year to February. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 3.6% in March 2026, up from a revised increase of 0.7% in February. Both the monthly and annual price rises were mainly caused by non-EU imports of crude petroleum. The Sterling index fell by 0.4% in the year to March 2026 and also by 0.4% in March 2026 (Table 4).

Of the 10 product groups for the output Producer Price Index (PPI), 9 made upward contributions to the annual inflation rate in March 2026. The largest of these came from:

• outputs of coke and refined petroleum products
• other outputs from manufacturing

Prices for coke and refined petroleum products rose by 14.6% in the year to March 2026, up from a revised fall of 7.9% in the year to February (Table 5). Coke and refined petroleum products also provided the largest contribution to change in the annual inflation rate between February and March 2026, with prices rising by 20.6% in March 2026 compared with a rise of 1.0% in February 2026.

Prices for other outputs from manufacturing rose by 2.7% in the year to March 2026, down from a revised rise of 2.8% in the year to February (Table 5).

All nine product groups for the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) made upward contributions to the annual inflation rate in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026. The largest of these came from:

• professional, scientific and technical services
• administrative and support services

Prices for professional, scientific and technical services rose by 3.5% in the year to Quarter 1 2026, compared with a revised rise of 3.7% in the year to Quarter 4 2025 (Table 6). The annual price rise in Quarter 1 was partially caused by increases in prices for “accounting, bookkeeping and auditing services; tax consulting services”.

Prices for administrative and support services rose by 3.8% in the year to Quarter 1 2026, compared with a revised rise of 4.6% in the year to Quarter 4 2025 (Table 6). The annual price rise in Quarter 1 was partially caused by general cleaning services.

While education services had a smaller upward contribution to the annual inflation rate because of its low weight, it had the largest quarterly and annual inflation rates of all product groups in Quarter 1 2026 (Table 6). The quarterly and annual price rises were partly caused by “other education services”.

Information and communication services provided the largest contribution to the change in the annual inflation rate between Quarter 4 2025 and Quarter 1 2026. Prices for this product group rose by 2.5% in Quarter 1 2026, up from a revised rise of 1.7% in Quarter 4 2025 (Table 6).

This quarter’s Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) is being published with updated sales data, in line with the annual chain-linking methodology. New weights are applied to the data from Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025, which is the link period (Table 7). For further details on the methodology see our Services Producer Price Indices (SPPI) QMI.

Contribution

As the aggregate producer prices indices are built up from individual product indices, it is possible to decompose overall inflation into contributions from different products. Those contributions reflect both the inflation rates for each product and their weight in the index.

Input prices

This is the price of materials and fuels bought by UK manufacturers for processing. It includes materials and fuels that are either imported or sourced from within the domestic market. It is not limited to materials used in the final product but includes what is required by businesses in their normal day-to-day running, such as fuels.

Output prices

This is the amount received by UK producers for the goods that they sell to the domestic market, also known as factory gate prices. It includes the margin that businesses make on goods, in addition to costs, such as labour, raw materials and energy, as well as interest on loans, site or building maintenance, or rent.

Producer price inflation

This is change in the prices of goods bought and sold by UK manufacturers, including price indices of materials and fuels purchased (input prices) and factory gate prices (output prices). If the producer price inflation rate is a positive value, this indicates that prices have risen, while a negative value indicates prices have fallen.

Services producer price inflation

This describes quarterly estimates monitoring the changes in prices charged for services provided to UK-based customers for a range of industries.

Weight

This is the importance of the price of interest relative to other prices collected. With annual chain-linking, this is updated every year, using business sales revenue data.

For information on the strengths and limitations of the data, methods used, and the data uses and users, please see our Producer Price Indices (PPI) quality and methodology information (QMI) and our Services Producer Price Indices (SPPI) QMI.

Development of producer price statistics

We are continuing to improve the quality of these statistics to address the findings and requirements set out in the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR’s) Spotlight on Quality: Producer Price Indices publication. Information on how we plan to address the OSR requirements can be found in our Producer prices development plan. Once the developments are complete, we will begin the process for seeking reaccreditation. These statistics are currently designated as official statistics.

Oil and energy data

The crude oil data are collected from the four crude oil refining businesses within the UK. It is based on the volume and value of oil purchases made in the first part of the month (typically the first week), supplemented with the refining businesses’ estimate of the volume and value of purchases for the remainder of the month. It should be noted that these purchases will represent a (varying) mix of future and spot prices.

The oil derivatives data (diesel, gas oil and aviation turbine fuel) are also collected from the refining businesses. The process is like that used for crude oil but refers to sales rather than purchases.

The unleaded petrol data are sourced from pump prices from a range of business types. They are based on weekly data with the necessary tax elements removed.

The gas and electricity data are an average price for the month from a panel of suppliers relating to the supply of gas and electricity to industrial and commercial end-users, which differs from the data provided for the purposes of the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The data include a mixture of fixed price contracts and flexible price contracts, compiled by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Like the oil data, the first estimate is based on the average price for the first part of the month (based upon the volume and value of the energy supplied), supplemented with the suppliers’ estimate of the volume and value for the remainder of the month.

All these figures are revised as new data (for example, on the volumes and values of oil purchased) are received after one to two months.

Response rates

In March 2026, the response rates for the domestic PPI and Import Price Index (IPI) were higher than they were in March 2025, while the Export Price Index (EPI) was lower (Table 8).

In Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026, the response rate for the SPPI was lower than it was in Quarter 1 2025 (Table 9).