ONS: Firms increasingly hiking prices as supply chain crisis bites
Nearly two-fifths of UK firms reported higher costs across their supply chains in new official data, with many passing on the increase to consumers.
New ONS data has seen a significant increase in the number of firms putting up prices, from 4 per cent at the start of the year to 15 per cent in October.
Construction and manufacturing businesses appear to be most affected, with two-thirds (67 per cent and 66 per cent respectively) noting higher prices in the goods they are buying.
Unsurprisingly those firms are the most likely to be putting up prices. However only a third of those firms are lifting prices, suggesting that bottom lines continue to be squeezed.
The ongoing supply chain shortage, created by bottlenecks in the shipping industry and a significant hike in demand as the world unlocks from the pandemic, has led to increasing prices across the economy.
The spike in wholesale gas prices across the world has also put pressure on costs. Some 12 per cent of businesses said production had been affected by the recent increase.
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