PPI

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes several price reports monthly. Today, May 14, 2009 the Producer Price Index (PPI) was released. There is data for farm level and data for the processor level.

Today’s news release by BLS is interesting. BLS states, “Among finished goods, prices for consumer foods rose 1.5 percent in April following a 0.7-percent decrease in the previous month.”

Although natural cheese fell .1 on the index which is based the period 1982 – 84 = 100, dairy products rose from 153.1 to 153.8.

Naturally, processors do have a voice in what is charged to their customers. Farmers, on the on the other hand are at the mercy of a handful of powerful players since parity was eliminated in the early days of the Reagan administration.