Producer price index up in January 2009

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.8 percent in January, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed declines of 1.9 percent in December and 2.5 percent in November.

[Chart data—TXT]

The upturn in the index for finished goods was led by the index for energy goods, which increased 3.7 percent after falling 9.1 percent in December. The index for gasoline increased 15.0 percent after dropping 26.2 percent in the preceding month.

Price declines for finished consumer foods slowed to 0.4 percent in January from 1.4 percent in the preceding month. The index for finished goods less foods and energy increased 0.4 percent following a 0.2-percent rise a month earlier.

From January 2008 to January 2009, prices for finished goods declined 1.0 percent, as shown in the chart.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — January 2009" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 09-0170. 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.