US wholesale prices for chemicals up 2% in March

15 April 2008 14:46  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--US producer prices for industrial chemicals rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in March compared with February, nearly twice the 1.1% increase for finished goods overall, the US Labor Department said on Tuesday.

 

However, producer prices - also known as wholesale prices - for plastic resins and materials fell by 0.5% in March from February, the department said.

 

The relatively sharp jump in wholesale prices for industrial chemicals in March followed a 0.3% decline in February from January and was more consistent with the 1.6% increase in the producer price for industrial chemicals registered in January from December.

 

The March decline in producer prices for plastic resins followed a 0.3% easing in February and a 1.6% increase in January.

 

On a year-to-year basis, US wholesale prices for industrial chemicals in March were more than 18% ahead of March 2007 and plastic resins and materials were selling at the producer level last month at prices nearly 13% higher than the year-earlier month.

 

The department provides monthly data on the movement of producer prices but does not offer detailed analysis on why specific commodity prices shift from month to month.

 

Overall, however, the department said its producer price index (PPI) increase of 1.1% in March for all finished goods reflected chiefly a 2.9% increase in wholesale prices for energy products and a 1.2% increase in prices for finished consumer food items.

 

With energy and food products subtracted from the overall index, the department said producer prices for finished goods in March rose by a more modest 0.2% from the 0.5% increase seen in February.

 

Wholesale prices for finished goods minus those for more volatile energy and food products - known as the core index - are more closely watched as a general economic barometer.

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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