U.K. Adds Rose Wine, Rotisserie Chicken to Inflation Basket

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. price of rose wine and hot chicken will help determine the nation’s inflation rate after the Office for National Statistics added them to the list of goods it monitors to gauge living costs.

Bottled rose wine, hot rotisserie chicken and DVDs ordered over the Internet are among products that will now be included when the agency collects about 120,000 prices every month for its basket of about 650 goods and services. Items leaving the list include boxes of wine and rentals from DVD shops.

The list is reviewed annually to ensure it represents consumer spending with changes made for reasons ranging from improved technology to popularity, the ONS said in a statement.

Rose wine is increasingly popular with U.K. consumers, while supermarkets are beginning to sell more hot foods such as cooked chicken, the statement said. A shift away from carpets is reflected by the inclusion of hardwood flooring, while MP3 players are being replaced by MP4 ones.

The new list will be introduced with the February price indexes published tomorrow. The U.K. inflation rate probably fell to 2.6 percent in February, the lowest in almost a year, according to the median forecast of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.