The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 1.8 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. This increase followed advances of 1.4 percent in May and 0.2 percent in April. Within finished goods, the index for energy goods climbed 6.0 percent in June after rising 4.9 percent in May.
Prices for consumer foods increased 1.5 percent subsequent to a 0.8 percent advance in the previous month, and the index for finished goods other than foods and energy increased 0.2 percent for the second consecutive month.
During the first six months of 2008, the finished goods index rose at a 12.4 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) after increasing at a 5.8 percent SAAR during the second half of 2007. Prices for finished energy goods climbed at a 38.1 percent SAAR from December 2007 to June 2008 after rising at a 16.7 percent SAAR for the six months ended December 2007.
The index for finished goods other than foods and energy advanced at a 4.5-percent SAAR for the six months ended in June after rising at a 1.7 percent SAAR during the prior 6 month period. Prices for finished consumer foods moved up at a 9.8 percent SAAR during the first half of 2008 after increasing at a 7.1 percent SAAR through the second half of 2007.
From June 2007 to June 2008, prices for finished goods rose 9.2 percent, as shown in the chart.
This data is from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — June 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-0973. All producer price indexes are routinely subject to revision once, four months after original publication, to reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents.
