January 14, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices decline three months in a row

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 0.7 percent in December, seasonally adjusted. The December decline follows decreases of 0.6 percent in November and 1.6 percent in October.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prices received by producers of intermediate goods decreased 0.9 percent in December, following a 0.5-percent decline in the prior month. The crude goods index dropped 9.5 percent, after posting a 7.3-percent rise in November.

From December 2000 to December 2001, finished goods prices fell 1.8 percent—the largest 12-month rate of decline since a 2.3-percent drop for the 12 months ended in December 1986. This index rose 3.6 percent during 2000.

Prices for finished energy goods turned down 17.2 percent in 2001, following a 16.6-percent advance in the previous calendar year. Prices for finished consumer foods advanced at about the same rate in 2001 as in the prior calendar year—1.8 and 1.7 percent, respectively. For the 12 months ended in December 2001, the index for finished goods other than foods and energy rose 0.7 percent, after posting a 1.3-percent gain in 2000.

These data are a product of the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in the "Producer Price Indexes, December 2001", news release USDL 02-24. 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.