February 21, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in January 2006

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.3 percent in January 2006, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.6-percent advance in December and a 0.4-percent decline in November.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods, prices for energy goods were unchanged in January, following a 2.0-percent rise in the prior month. The rate of increase in the finished consumer foods index slowed from 0.8 percent in December to 0.2 percent in January. By contrast, prices for finished goods other than foods and energy went up 0.4 percent, after edging up 0.1 percent in the preceding month.

From January 2005 to January 2006, prices for finished goods advanced 5.7 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes -- January 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-270. 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.