March 18, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices rose in February

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.2 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This rise followed a 0.1-percent advance in January and a 0.6-percent decrease in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, the rate of increase in prices for finished consumer foods accelerated from 0.8 percent in January to 1.0 percent in February. Prices for finished energy goods also rose faster in February than in the prior month—0.4 percent compared with 0.1 percent. The index for finished goods other than foods and energy showed no change, compared with a 0.1-percent decline in the previous month.

From February 2001 to February 2002, prices for finished goods decreased 2.6 percent. Over the same period, the finished energy goods index dropped 20.4 percent, prices for finished goods other than foods and energy gained 0.5 percent, and the index for finished consumer foods increased 1.9 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in the "Producer Price Indexes, February 2002", news release USDL 02-131. 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.