Thursday, April 22, 2010

Food and Energy Drive PPI Higher

Marketwatch details:

Higher prices for vegetables helped drive U.S. wholesale prices higher by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in March, reversing a drop in February, the Labor Department estimated Thursday. The producer price index has risen by 6% in the past year, led by a 23% rise in energy prices, the government agency said.

Excluding often-volatile food and energy prices, the core PPI increased 0.1% in March and is up 0.9% compared with a year earlier. The big story in the March PPI was wholesale food prices, which rose 2.4%, matching the biggest gain in 26 years. Prices of fresh and dried vegetables soared 49.3%, the most in 16 years.



Source: PPI

3 comments:

  1. I have zero understanding of food prices so that seems high, but probably a one off related to energy spiking???? I have not seen it at the grocery store as yet.

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  2. So there was a severe winter in southern states like Florida causing perishable food crops to be devastated. Where is the surprise?

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  3. I'm not certain what vegetable prices are outlined in the PPI. I know demand from China was rumored to have picked up in the Agr. commodities the past two weeks. Apparently their weather forecast are looking very dry during key growing seasons.

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