March 19, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices up slightly in February

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods edged up 0.1 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This rise followed a 1.1-percent increase in January and a 0.2-percent gain in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

Led by price declines for passenger cars and light motor trucks, the index for finished goods other than food and energy fell 0.3 percent in February, after a 0.7-percent advance in January. Prices for finished energy goods rose 1.4 percent, after posting a 3.8-percent advance in the prior month. The rate of increase in prices for finished consumer foods slowed to 0.6 percent in February from 0.8 percent in January.

From February 2000 to February 2001, finished goods prices advanced 4.0 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in the "Producer Price Indexes, February 2001", news release USDL 01-64. 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.