Wholesale prices declined 0.9% in July, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This decrease followed advances of 1.8% in June and 0.2% in May. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved down 0.2% in July after rising 1.9% in the prior month, and the crude goods index fell 4.5% following a 4.6% increase in June.
The downturn in finished goods prices was broad-based. The index for energy goods fell 2.4% in July after climbing 6.6% a month earlier, prices for consumer foods decreased 1.5% following a 1.1% advance in the previous month, and the index for goods other than foods and energy edged down 0.1% compared with a 0.5-percent rise in June. Before seasonal adjustment, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods decreased 0.9% in July to 172.6 (1982 = 100).
From July 2008 to July 2009, prices for finished goods fell 6.8%, the index for intermediate goods decreased 15.1%, and crude goods prices dropped 44.8%, all of which are record 12-month declines. Over the same period within finished goods, the index for energy goods fell 29.7%, prices for consumer foods moved down 4.2%, and the index for goods other than foods and energy rose 2.6%.