In June, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods moved down 0.9 percent in June and the crude goods index dropped 2.4 percent.
In June, over eighty percent of the 0.5-percent decrease in the finished goods index can be traced to prices for consumer foods, which fell 2.2 percent. Also contributing to lower finished goods prices, the index for finished energy goods declined 0.5 percent. By contrast, prices for finished goods other than foods and energy inched up 0.1 percent.
The Producer Price Index for Intermediate Materials, Supplies, and Components moved down 0.9 percent in June, its first decline since July 2009. About two-thirds of this decrease can be attributed to lower prices for intermediate energy goods, which fell 2.6 percent. The index for intermediate materials less foods and energy also contributed to the overall decline, moving down 0.4 percent. By contrast, prices for intermediate foods and feeds inched up 0.1 percent.
The Producer Price Index for Crude Materials for Further Processing declined 2.4 percent in June. For the three months ending in June, crude material prices fell 6.2 percent after moving up 8.2 percent from December to March. About 80 percent of the monthly decrease was due to the index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs, which dropped 5.3 percent. Lower prices for crude non-food materials less energy also contributed to the overall decline, falling 4.8 percent. By contrast, the index for crude energy materials rose 1.7 percent in June.
This data is from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — June 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0965. 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.
