March 22, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in February 2006

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 1.4 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This decrease followed a 0.3-percent gain in January and a 0.6-percent increase in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among finished goods in February, the index for energy goods fell 4.7 percent, following no change a month earlier. Prices for consumer foods turned down 2.7 percent, after a 0.2-percent gain in January. Excluding prices for foods and energy, the finished goods index moved up 0.3 percent in February, compared with a 0.4-percent advance in the previous month.

From February 2005 to February 2006, prices for finished goods advanced 3.7 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes -- February 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-511. 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.