April 02, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

PPI in February

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods edged up 0.1 percent in February, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.6-percent jump in January and a 0.2-percent increase in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

The rate of increase in the index for finished energy goods slowed to 0.2 percent in February from 4.7 percent in January. Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy edged up 0.1 percent in February, after rising 0.3 percent in the preceding month. By contrast, the finished consumer foods index turned up 0.2 percent, following a 1.4-percent drop in January.

From February 2003 to February 2004, finished goods prices rose 2.1 percent, as shown in the chart. During the same period, the indexes for finished energy goods, finished consumer foods, and finished goods other than foods and energy moved up 3.9, 4.0, and 1.0 percent, respectively.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes -- February 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-587. 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. Note: Producer Price Index data for February 2004 were released on April 1, 2004; the February data were originally scheduled for release on March 12, 2004.