In August, nearly two-thirds of the 0.3‑percent increase in the finished goods index is attributable to a 0.8-percent rise in prices for finished energy goods. Also contributing to the advance, the index for finished consumer foods climbed 0.6 percent. Prices for finished goods less foods and energy were unchanged in August.
The index for intermediate materials, supplies, and components was unchanged in August. A 0.6‑percent increase in prices for intermediate energy goods and a 0.2‑percent rise in the index for intermediate materials less foods and energy offset a 2.3‑percent decline in prices for intermediate foods and feeds.
The index for crude materials for further processing declined 2.7 percent in August. For the 3 months ended in August, crude goods prices moved down 1.4 percent subsequent to a 0.3-percent decrease for the 3 months ended in May. The broad-based monthly decline in August was led by the index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs, which dropped 4.2 percent. Prices for crude energy materials and crude nonfood materials less energy fell 2.7 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
These data are from the BLS Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Producer Price Indexes — August 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑1837. 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.
United States Department of Labor
