January 2012 Consumer and Producer Price Indices

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The seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index increased 0.2 percent in January. The not seasonally adjusted all-items index has risen 2.9 percent over the last 12 months, a slight decrease from last month's 3.0 percent figure. The index for energy has risen 6.1 percent over the last year and the food index 4.4 percent; both figures are slight declines from last month. The index for all items less food and energy has risen 2.3 percent, its largest 12-month increase since September 2008.

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index for finished goods (PPI) advanced 0.1 percent in January. Prices for finished goods declined 0.1 percent in December and moved up 0.2 percent in November. At the earlier stages of processing, the index for intermediate goods fell 0.4 percent in January, and crude goods prices increased 1.5 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the finished goods index advanced 4.1 percent for the 12 months ended January 2012, the smallest year-over-year rise since a 3.6-percent increase in January 2011.
 

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Details at different stages of processing include:

Finished goods -- The rise in finished goods prices can be attributed to the index for finished goods less foods and energy, which moved up 0.4 percent. By contrast, prices for finished energy goods and for finished consumer foods declined 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Intermediate goods -- This index moved down 0.4 percent following a 0.2-percent decline in December. Over three-fourths of the broad-based decrease in January is attributable to prices for intermediate energy goods, which fell 1.4 percent. Also contributing to the decline in intermediate goods prices, the index for intermediate goods less foods and energy inched down 0.1 percent, and prices for intermediate foods and feeds decreased 0.4 percent. For the 12 months ended in January, the intermediate goods index rose 4.2 percent, the smallest year-over-year advance since a 2.9-percent increase in December 2009.

Crude goods -- The index for crude goods moved up 1.5 percent. For the three-month period ending in January, crude material prices rose 2.6 percent following a 1.1-percent decline from July to October. In January, nearly half of the broad-based monthly advance is attributable to a 1.6-percent increase in prices for crude energy materials. Also contributing to the January advance, the index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs moved up 1.6 percent, and prices for crude nonfood materials less energy rose 0.6 percent.
 

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At the end of 2011 the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped reporting a couple of data series we have tracked on this blog -- “Softwood logs, bolts and timber” (WPU085101) and “Pulpwood” (WPU085103). We have substituted “Logs, bolts, timber, pulpwood, woodchips and other roundwood products” (WPU085) in the graph above -- simplified as “Wood Fiber.” The individual price indices we track either increased more slowly on a year-over-year basis in January or, in the case of softwood lumber, actually declined. All except softwood lumber were more expensive in January than a year earlier.
 

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