June 14, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices down again in May

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 0.4 percent in May, seasonally adjusted. This decrease followed a 0.2-percent decline in April and a 1.0-percent gain in March.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy showed no change in May, after edging up 0.1 percent in each of the two prior months. At the earlier stages of processing, the intermediate goods index fell 0.5 percent, following a 0.9-percent rise in the prior month. Price increases for crude goods slowed to a 1.7-percent rate in May from a 5.5-percent rate in April

From May 2001 to May 2002, prices for finished goods declined 2.7 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program.  Find out more in the "Producer Price Indexes, May 2002", (PDF) (TXT) news release USDL 02-338.  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.