Britain's producer prices rose 0.5 percent over the previous month driven by cost increases in alcohol, fuel and clothes, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday.

Its output inflation stood at 4.1 percent in the year to January as against a rate of 4.8 percent in December, the lowest annual rate since November 2010.

According to ONS, tobacco and alcohol product prices rose 1.6 percent between December and January and 7.8 percent in the year to January. This is the highest annual rate since February 2009, when the index rose 8.2 percent.

Petroleum product prices rose 1.1 percent between December and January and rose 7.5 percent in the year to January. The monthly rise was mainly due to a 1.8 percent increase in the price of diesel and gas oil.

Clothing, textiles and leather product prices rose 0.7 percent between December and January and rose 5.1 percent in the year to January.

ONS said the total output price index excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum rose 2.4 percent in the year to January 2012, the lowest annual rate since February 2010, when the index rose 2.2 percent.

The input price index also slowed down to an annual pace of 7 percent in January against 8.9 percent in December.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a monthly survey that measures the price changes of goods bought and sold by British manufacturers and provides a key measure of inflation, alongside other indicators such as the Retail Prices Index (RPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Services Producer Prices Index (SPPI).