Producer prices in March 2011

On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods moved up 5.8 percent for the 12 months ended March 2011, the largest year-over-year gain since a 5.9-percent advance in March 2010.

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The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.7 percent in March 2011, seasonally adjusted. This advance followed a 1.6-percent increase in February and a 0.8-percent gain in January.

In March 2011, nearly ninety percent of the increase in the finished goods index can be attributed to a 2.6-percent rise in prices for finished energy goods. Over eighty percent of the increase can be attributed to the gasoline index, which climbed 5.7 percent. Also contributing to the advance in the finished goods index, prices for goods other than foods and energy moved up 0.3 percent. By contrast, the index for finished consumer foods moved down 0.2 percent.

These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see “Producer Price Indexes — March 2011” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-0512. 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.