April 14, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices up again in March

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 1.5 percent in March, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 1.0-percent gain in February and a 1.6-percent rise in January. 

[Chart data—TXT]

Over half of the March increase in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods was due to prices for finished energy goods, which rose 5.7 percent after advancing 7.4 percent in February. Most of the remaining upward movement in March’s finished goods index can be traced to a 0.7-percent increase in prices for finished goods other than foods and energy, reflecting higher prices for passenger cars and light motor trucks. The finished consumer foods index edged up 0.1 percent in March, after climbing 0.6 percent in February.

During the first quarter of 2003, prices for finished goods advanced at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17.4 percent, after rising at a 1.2-percent rate during the final three months of 2002. Excluding prices for foods and energy, the finished goods index increased at a 4.6-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate for the three months ended March 2003, following a 1.3 percent rate of decline in the last quarter of 2002. 

From March 2002 to March 2003, prices for finished goods rose 4.2 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. Find out more in "Producer Price Indexes, March 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03–167. 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.