August 15, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices edged up in July

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods inched up 0.1 percent in July. This increase followed a 0.5-percent rise in June and a 0.3-percent decrease in May.

[Chart data—TXT]

The index for finished energy goods advanced 0.3 percent in July, following a 3.4-percent rise in June, and accounted for most of the slower rate of increase in finished goods prices. Prices for finished consumer foods moved down 0.2 percent, after rising 0.4 percent in the preceding month. By contrast, the index for finished goods other than foods and energy turned up 0.2 percent in July, following a 0.1-percent decrease a month earlier.

From July 2002 to July 2003, the finished goods index moved up 3.0 percent (as shown in chart). Over the same period, prices for finished energy goods increased 14.4 percent, the index for finished consumer foods rose 3.7 percent, and prices for finished goods other than foods and energy edged up 0.2 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes, July 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03–421. 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.