April 16, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in March 2008

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 1.1 percent in March, seasonally adjusted.

[Chart data—TXT]

This advance followed a 0.3-percent rise in February and a 1.0-percent increase in January.

The increase in the index for energy goods accelerated to 2.9 percent in March from 0.8 percent in the preceding month. Prices for finished consumer foods turned up 1.2 percent after declining 0.5 percent in February. By contrast, the rise in the index for finished goods less foods and energy slowed to 0.2 percent from 0.5 percent in February.

During the first quarter of 2008, the finished goods index rose at a 10.2-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), after climbing at an 11.5-percent SAAR during the fourth quarter of 2007. Much of this slower rate of increase can be traced to prices for finished energy goods, which moved up at a 22.5-percent SAAR for the 3 months ended in March after jumping at a 44.1-percent SAAR for the 3 months ended in December.

The index for finished consumer foods increased at a 10.1-percent SAAR for the 3 months ended in March after advancing at a 9.6-percent SAAR for the 3 months ended in December. Prices for finished goods less foods and energy increased at a 5.0-percent SAAR during the first quarter of 2008 after rising at a 2.2-percent SAAR during the fourth quarter of 2007.

From March 2007 to March 2008, prices for finished goods rose 6.9 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — March 2008" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 08-0504. 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.