Producer prices fall in May 2012

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 1.0 percent in May, seasonally adjusted. The decrease was led by declines in the price of finished energy goods and finished consumer foods; by contrast, the index for finished goods less foods and energy rose 0.2 percent.

[Chart data]

The index for finished energy goods fell 4.3 percent in May, the largest decline since a 4.6-percent decrease in March 2009. An 8.9-percent drop in the gasoline index accounted for over 80 percent of the May decline.

Prices for finished consumer foods moved down 0.6 percent in May, the largest decline since a 0.7-percent decrease in December 2011. Over 60 percent of the May decline can be traced to the meats index, which decreased 2.2 percent.

The index for finished goods less foods and energy advanced 0.2 percent in May, the third consecutive monthly increase. Over a quarter of the May rise can be attributed to the pharmaceutical preparations index, which climbed 0.7 percent.

These data are from the Producer Price Index program. To learn more, see “Producer Price Indexes — May 2012” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1181. 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.