"materials prices" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
An example usage might be: "Due to economic uncertainty, many companies are concerned about the possible rise in materials prices in the near future."
But he also points to concerns over "rising raw materials prices and reports of bottlenecks in some supply chains".
Resource company investors are concerned that the slowdown in the global economy will weigh on raw materials prices.
Many businesses have been able to cut other costs or increase productivity to offset the higher materials prices.
On the other hand, they can't do anything about high raw materials prices driven by demand from China".
Of course, that raises the question of what caused the rise in raw materials prices in the first place.
For the most part these do not present a pretty picture as the overvalued pound and high raw materials prices hold down profits.
Intense price competition and rising raw-materials prices have cut profit margins.
As raw-materials prices fell in the 1980s equities started a long bull run, peaking in 2000.
For instance, when output growth rose from 2.3% in 1993 to 3.5% in 1994, industrial raw-materials prices rose by more than 40%.
The falloff in raw-materials prices is hurting developing countries with economies built on exports, and on Tuesday, the World Bank trimmed its growth forecast for developing economies to 4.5percentt, from 6.4percentt.
That is a potential silver lining for developed economies, since higher raw-materials prices have acted as a tax on consumers.Less positive was the slide in bank shares, which have underperformed the broad market this year (see chart 2).
