Official figures show that British manufacturers' input costs rose by more than expected in February, as a weaker sterling made it dearer to import crude oil.
The Office for National Statistics said input prices rose by 0.6% in February. That was much higher than the 0.1% increase forecast by analysts and compared with a rise of 0.9% in January.
The ONS said the increase was due to a sharp rise in the price of crude oil, which rose by 7.7% last month - the biggest increase since June 2008. It said an increase in crude oil prices had been exacerbated by sterling's weakness against the dollar.
Factory gate prices rose by just 0.1% on the month, taking the annual rate of increase down to 3.1%, the lowest since September 2007.
The ONS published separate data on construction output, showing the total volume of output fell 7% in the three months to December 2008 compared with the previous quarter.
