Rates of increase in unit value indexes of imports
May 1981 to November 1981
(8)
November 1981
to May 1982
(?)
Foodstuffs
10
-1
Consumer goods
6
-1
Fuels
0
-7
Raw materials and semi-
7
1
manufactures
Capital goods
Total imports
17
-1
7
0
Prices of factors of production
6.4
to
Land prices generally were still falling during the
first half of 1982. But, because of the difficulty of
comparing different sites with different locations and sales
conditions, no reliable quantitative measure of the extent
which land prices have changed is available. It appears,
however, that the fall in the prices of commercial and
residential sites, was not as substantial as that in the
second half of last year. But prices for industrial land are continuing to fall. Because of the high vacancy position in
respect of industrial accommodation and the uncertain
prospects facing the manufacturing sector, developers appear to have shown less interest in bidding for industrial sites.
6.5
The movement of wage rates, or the price of labour,
in the first half of 1982 has already been discussed in
Chapter 4. Wage rates in the manufacturing and in the
building and construction sectors, in real terms, started to
increase slightly in the first half as the pressure of immigration, which affected particularly the supply of labour in these two sectors, gradually eased off.
50
/ 6.6 The