June 21, 2010 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Producer prices in May 2010

On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods rose 5.3 percent for the 12 months ended May 2010, their second consecutive month of slowing year-over-year advances after a 6.0-percent increase for the 12 months ended March 2010.

12-month percent changes in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, not seasonally adjusted, May 2001–May 2010
[Chart data]

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods moved down 0.3 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, following a 0.1-percent decrease in April and a 0.7-percent increase in March.

In May, most of the decline in the index for finished goods can be attributed to lower prices for energy goods, which fell 1.5 percent. Also contributing to lower finished goods prices, the index for finished consumer foods moved down 0.6 percent. By contrast, prices for finished goods less foods and energy rose 0.2 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — May 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0812. 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.

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