Producer Price Indexes Rise in March

 

Monthly percent changes in the Producer Price Index for finished goods, seasonally adjusted: March 2010 to March 2011.
Courtesy of Courtesy of Bureau of Labor Statistics

Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.7 percent in March, seasonally adjusted. This advance followed a 1.6-percent increase in February and a 0.8-percent gain in January.

At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods climbed 1.5 percent in March and the crude goods index declined 0.5 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods moved up 5.8 percent for the 12 months ended March 2011, the largest year-over-year gain since a 5.9-percent advance in March 2010.

In March, nearly 90 percent of the increase in the finished goods index can be attributed to a 2.6-percent rise in prices for finished energy goods. Also contributing to the advance in the finished goods index, prices for goods other than foods and energy moved up 0.3 percent. By contrast, the index for finished consumer foods moved down 0.2 percent in March.

Producer Price Index for intermediate materials, supplies, and components moved up 1.5 percent in March, the eighth consecutive advance. The broad-based March increase was led by prices for intermediate energy goods, which rose 2.9 percent.

The indexes for intermediate goods less foods and energy and for intermediate foods and feeds also were factors in the intermediate goods advance, moving up 0.9 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. For the 12 months ended March 2011, prices for intermediate goods climbed 8.9 percent, the largest advance since rising 9.8 percent in October 2008.

– Courtesy of Bureau of Labor Statistics