March 23, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in February 2005

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.4 percent in February 2005, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a 0.3-percent gain in January and a 0.3-percent decline in December.

[Chart data—TXT]

Excluding prices for foods and energy, the finished goods index edged up 0.1 percent in February, compared with a 0.8-percent increase in January.

Also, among finished goods, the indexes for energy goods, consumer foods, and consumer goods other than foods and energy rose 1.4, 0.8, and 0.2 percent, respectively. By contrast, capital equipment prices fell 0.2 percent. 

From February 2004 to February 2005, prices for finished goods rose 4.7 percent, as shown in the chart. Over the same period, the index for finished energy goods increased 11.8 percent, the finished consumer foods index climbed 4.9 percent, and prices for finished goods other than foods and energy moved up 2.8 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. For more information, see "Producer Price Indexes -- February 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-483. 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.