PPI Transitions to New Computer System

The Producer Price Index (PPI) program converted its monthly processing to a new computer system with the release of data for May 2008, on June 17, 2008. As a result of this conversion, there are some changes to previous PPI practices:

• The traditional concordance between the detailed Commodity indexes and Industry-classified product indexes no longer exists. All detailed Commodity indexes continue to include price data from their primary Industry-classified counterparts, but these data now are supplemented with similar item specific data of other Industries. This results in additional price quotations, thus larger sample sizes for the Commodity indexes.
• The visual representation of some PPI publication tables have changed. Although most information previously provided continues to be published, some tables differ visually from what were traditionally produced. The only piece of information that is no longer published is the Finished Goods index on a 1967=100 basis, which had been provided as a courtesy to users.

Further information is available from the PPI Section of Index Analysis and Public Information at: (202) 691-7705.

Last Modified Date: June 19, 2008