September 14, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in August 2005

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.6 percent in August, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 1.0-percent gain in July and no change in June.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, prices for goods other than foods and energy showed no change in August, after increasing 0.4 percent in the prior month. The finished energy goods index rose 3.7 percent. Finished consumer foods prices declined 0.3 percent in August.

From August 2004 to August 2005, prices for finished goods rose 5.1 percent (as shown in the chart). Over the same period, the index for finished energy goods increased 19.2 percent, the finished consumer foods index rose 1.2 percent, and prices for finished goods other than foods and energy went up 2.4 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more about the changing prices of finished goods, intermediate goods and crude goods, see "Producer Price Indexes -- August 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1716.  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.  Note: Hurricane Katrina struck Florida and the Gulf Coast after the Producer Price Index's August pricing date, and therefore did not affect the PPI in August.