March 19, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI rises in January

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 0.6 percent in January, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.2-percent gain in December and a 0.2-percent decline in November.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, the index for finished energy goods jumped 4.7 percent in January, following a 1.6-percent advance in the previous month. Excluding prices for gasoline, the finished goods index rose 0.2 percent in January.

Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy increased 0.3 percent, after edging down 0.1 percent in the preceding month. By contrast, the finished consumer foods index dropped 1.4 percent in January, after inching up 0.1 percent a month earlier.

From January 2003 to January 2004, finished goods prices rose 3.3 percent, as shown in the chart. During the same period, the indexes for finished energy goods, finished consumer foods, and finished goods other than foods and energy moved up 11.4, 4.2, and 0.9 percent, respectively.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes -- January 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-436. 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: Producer Price Index data for January 2004 were released on March 18, 2004; the January data were originally scheduled for release on February 19, 2004. The delay was caused by unexpected difficulties in the conversion of PPI data from the Standard Industrial Classification system to the North American Industry Classification System.