BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 74

Prices

The BICS asks businesses that have not permanently stopped trading (i.e. ‘Currently Trading’ or ‘Paused Trading’) about how the prices of materials, goods and services bought and sold compare with the previous calendar month. Note that in Wave 74 businesses were asked about prices in the month of December 2022. Prior to Wave 55, these questions asked how prices compare to normal price fluctuations.

Figure 2: In Wave 74, 45.4% of businesses reported that the prices of materials, goods or services bought in December 2022 had increased from the previous calendar month. In contrast, only 17.2% of businesses reported that they had increased the price of goods or services sold.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 18 to 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46 ,48, 50, 52, 55, 57, 59, 60, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71 and 74

Of currently trading businesses, 45.4% reported an increase in the prices of materials, goods or services bought in December 2022 compared with November 2022, an increase on the previous month (42.7%).

In the latest period, the industry sectors with the highest proportion of businesses reporting increases in the prices of materials, goods and services bought were Accommodation & Food Services (66.0%) and Wholesale, Retail & Repair of Vehicles (52.0%).

In the latest period, the industry sector with the highest proportion of businesses reporting an increase in the prices of materials, goods and services sold was Wholesale, Retail & Repair of Vehicles (32.2%).

In Wave 74, businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked in which ways their business had been affected by any price rises they had experienced.

Figure 3: Over 80% of businesses reported that they had been affected by general price increases in some way; the top three impacts reported by businesses were having to absorb costs (63.1%), passing on price increases to customers (35.8%) and having to change suppliers (20.4%).

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 74

Businesses were also asked if they had been affected by recent increases in energy prices. In the period 9 January to 22 January 2023, over half (50.8%) of applicable businesses reported that they had been affected by the recent increase in energy prices in some way (suppliers and/or production were affected).

In Wave 74, businesses were asked what their expectations were for the prices of goods or services sold in February 2023, and the factors causing the businesses to consider raising prices.

An estimated 17.2% of businesses reported that they were expecting to increase prices in February 2023, down from 35.7% for the previous month. The top three factors reported by businesses for these expected price increases were energy prices (46.1%), labour costs (36.1%) and raw material prices (35.3%).