UK Manufacturers’ Price Expectations Double in August, CBI Figures Show

The balance measuring expected selling price inflation jumped from +11 in July to +22 in August, the CBI reported on 20 August 2026, with the reading described as well above historical norms.

UK manufacturers are expecting to raise their selling prices at a sharply faster pace, the figures show. The CBI’s Industrial Trends Survey — a monthly gauge of conditions and expectations across UK manufacturing — recorded a balance of +22 for expected selling price inflation in August 2026, compared with +11 in July. That’s a doubling of the measure in a single month, and the CBI said the reading remained well above historical norms.

The CBI linked the strengthening expectations to a rebound in crude oil prices over the preceding few weeks, according to Reuters, which reported the survey findings on 20 August 2026.

These are business survey expectations, not official consumer inflation data — and that distinction matters. The Office for National Statistics recorded UK annual CPI inflation at 2.9 per cent in July 2026, published the day before the CBI survey results. The ONS August consumer inflation figure was not available in verified sources at the time of publication.

For Kent, the direction of travel is what businesses will be watching. Higher expected selling prices from manufacturers tend to feed through into higher input costs for firms buying industrial goods — and Kent’s mix of manufacturing, logistics, retail and construction businesses puts a broad cross-section of the local economy in the path of that pressure. Tighter margins, or higher prices passed on to customers, are the two most likely outcomes if expectations translate into actual price rises.

But expectations aren’t certainties. Survey balances measure sentiment, not confirmed price changes, and the CBI’s own framing uses the word “expectations” throughout.