They can expect to recover next winter because the industry anticipates that prices will recede to the level of the winter of 1986-87.

A possible path over the Gulf of Mexico oil fields, as well as tension with Iran, caused the price of oil to increase, although the prices receded when the threat of the storm receded.

And prices receded, with only 3 of 20 industries reporting paying more for goods.

But since the disclosure two weeks ago that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, had been buying huge amounts of silver, the price, which first rose sharply, has receded.

Though the price of grains has receded in recent months from historic highs, grains are still far more expensive than they were just two years ago.

Input prices, what producers pay for their raw materials, also dropped back, falling 0.6pc as the price of oil receded.

Yet in the absence of demand from big institutions and other retail investors, prices receded from their highs as the afternoon progressed.

Refiners rush to meet the demand, and prices recede.

Tribal oil royalties soared with oil prices, rising from $18 million in 1973 to $147 million in 1982, but fell back to $81 million last year as prices receded.

When buy orders from retail investors failed to materialize after Mr. Bush's comments, the problems of coping with the new supply of Treasury issues began to prey on dealers' minds, and prices receded from their highs.