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mpc: 20 Inflationary pressures did appear to be building along the supply chain. Manufacturers' input prices had risen in September, largely reflecting oil prices. Manufacturers' output price inflation had also increased, and they seemed to have been able to rebuild margins despite rising input costs. Manufacturing output price inflation in the CBI Quarterly Industrial Trends Survey was close to a five-year high. But pressures were greatest in the prices of intermediate and capital goods rather than finished consumer goods, and so might take longer to pass through to consumer prices. Services price inflation also seemed more stable. In recent years, prices of intermediate and consumer goods imported into the United Kingdom had been falling whereas prices of goods produced in the United Kingdom had been rising, reflecting differences in the composition of UK imports and exports. This improvement in the terms of trade had partly offset the growing pressure of UK demand on supply. But recently there had been signs of increases in the prices of imported finished manufactured goods, and the depreciation of sterling would add to these inflationary pressures.