May 14, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in April 2007

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.7 percent in April, seasonally adjusted. This advance followed a 1.0-percent rise in March and a 1.3-percent increase in February.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, prices for consumer foods moved up 0.4 percent in April following a 1.4-percent increase in the previous month, while the consumer goods less foods and energy index turned down 0.1 percent after advancing 0.1 percent in the preceding month.

Prices for energy goods rose less in April than they had a month earlier—3.4 and 3.6 percent, respectively. By contrast, the capital equipment index edged up 0.1 percent in March, slightly counteracting the deceleration in finished goods prices.

From April 2006 to April 2007, prices for finished goods rose 3.2 percent, as shown in the chart. 

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — April 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0676. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to revision once, 4 months after original publication, to reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents.