February 2012 Consumer and Producer Price Indices

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The seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index increased 0.4 percent in February. The not seasonally adjusted all-items index has risen 2.9 percent over the last 12 months. The gasoline index rose sharply in February, accounting for over 80 percent of the change in the all items index.

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index for finished goods (PPI) advanced 0.4 percent in February. At earlier stages of processing, the index for intermediate goods moved up 0.7 percent and crude goods prices increased 0.4 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the finished goods index rose 3.3 percent for the 12 months ended February 2012, the smallest year-over-year rise since a similar 3.3-percent advance in August 2010.
 

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Details at different stages of processing include:

Finished goods -- The rise in finished goods prices was led by the index for finished energy goods, which moved up 1.3 percent. Prices for finished goods less foods and energy rose 0.2 percent. By contrast, the finished consumer foods index edged down 0.1 percent.

Intermediate goods -- This index moved up 0.7 percent in February following a 0.4-percent decline in January. Most of this advance can be attributed to higher prices for intermediate materials less foods and energy, which climbed 1.0 percent. The index for intermediate energy goods rose 0.3 percent. By contrast, prices for intermediate foods and feeds edged down 0.1 percent. For the 12 months ended in February, the intermediate goods index advanced 3.3 percent, the smallest year-over-year increase since a 2.9-percent rise in December 2009.

Crude goods -- The index for crude goods advanced 0.4 percent in February. For the 3 months ending in February, crude goods prices moved up 0.4 percent compared with a 2.3-percent increase for the 3 months ending in November. On a monthly basis, the February index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs climbed 0.6 percent, and prices for crude energy materials moved up 0.3 percent. By contrast, the index for crude nonfood materials less energy declined 0.3 percent.
 

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At the end of 2011 the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped reporting a couple of data series we 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 rates of change in the individual price indices we track were mixed on a year-over-year basis in February. Nonetheless, all except softwood lumber were more expensive in January than a year earlier.
 

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