September 16, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices unchanged in August

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods showed no change in August, seasonally adjusted. This index posted a 0.2-percent decline in July and a 0.1-percent gain in June.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods in August, a 1.0-percent rise in finished energy goods prices followed a 0.1-percent increase in July. On the other hand, the index for finished consumer foods fell 0.4 percent, compared with a 0.1-percent decline in July. The index for finished goods other than foods and energy turned down 0.1 percent in August, after falling 0.3 percent in the prior month.

From August 2001 to August 2002, prices for finished goods dropped 1.6 percent. During the same period, the finished energy goods index fell 5.8 percent, prices for finished consumer foods declined 2.4 percent, and the index for finished goods other than foods and energy inched down 0.3 percent. 

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program.  Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes, August 2002" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 02-517.  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.