PRICES AND SPENDING

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

AUGUST 2012 • VOLUME 1/ NUMBER 8

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 1 www.bls.gov

Wholesale and retail Producer Price Indexes: margin prices

Authors: Producer Price Index program staff

Almost all Producer Price Indexes (PPIs) measure changes 

in prices received by establishments for the sale of 

goods produced or services provided. PPIs for the 

trade sector, which includes wholesale and retail trade services, 

are the exception to this method. Trade sector output, by the PPI 

program’s definition, is not directly measurable, so margin prices 

are calculated as a substitute. Referred to as margin indexes, these 

PPIs track changes in prices received, less the acquisition price of 

goods sold by wholesalers and retailers. This article explains the 

rationale behind measuring trade sector output using margins, 

addresses challenges presented by this technique, and clarifies 

how margin PPIs should be interpreted.

Valuing trade services

Since little, if any, alteration takes place once goods are 

obtained by a wholesaler or retailer, the PPI program does not 

Related articles

More BLS articles and information related to 

wholesale and retail prices are available online 

at the following links:

y “Alternative output measurement for the U.S.

retail trade sector,” Monthly Labor Review,

July 2005, http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/

2005/07/art4full.pdf

y “PPI Introduces Industries to Complete 

Coverage of the Retail Trade Sector,” http://

www.bls.gov/ppi/ppiretailtrade.htm

y “Producer Price Indexes Introduced for the

Wholesale Trade Sector—NAICS 423, 424,

and 425120,” http://www.bls.gov/ppi/

ppiwholesale.htm.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 2 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

measure goods as the trade sector’s output. Rather, 

the outputs of these establishments are considered 

distributive trade services—services that help facilitate 

the sale of goods by presenting them in a more 

appealing way or by making them accessible to the 

buyer at the next level. 

The output of wholesale establishments is defined as 

the efficient transfer of goods from manufacturers or 

other wholesalers to other businesses, typically for resale. 

Services performed by wholesalers may include selling 

and promoting, buying and assortment building, bulk 

breaking, warehousing, transporting, and providing 

market information.

Establishments in the retail sector primarily purchase 

goods for resale to the general public for personal or 

household consumption, although some also serve 

business and institutional clients. Services performed by 

retailers may include marketing, storing, and displaying 

goods in convenient locations for customers to purchase. 

(See exhibit 1.)

As illustrated by the services listed, rather than altering 

products, trade establishments add value to finished 

products through services that help sell more than the 

manufacturer could alone. Margin PPIs seek to measure 

this added value by tracking the retailer's or wholesaler’s 

selling price received for a good, less the current price of 

acquiring that same good. The difference between these 

two prices reflects what the PPI program refers to as the 

margin price. Mathematically,

Current Selling Price – Current Acquisition Price = Margin Price.

The prices most commonly reported by an establishment 

are average margin prices per unit for specific product 

lines. The PPI program weights these prices by the sampled 

establishment’s margin revenue to form one representative 

average margin index for the industry.

Susceptibility to volatility

The main issue concerning margin PPIs is that they are 

prone to volatility, often moving more than 5 percent on a 

monthly basis. (See chart 1.)

Exhibit 1

Trade services aiding the movement of beverages from manufacturers to consumers

A beverage manufacturer 

sells the goods in bulk to a 

wholesaler; the price paid is the 

wholesaler’s acquisition price.

The wholesaler bundles an 

assortment of beverage flavors 

and resells the beverages to a 

retailer; the price paid is the 

wholesaler’s price received.

The price received by the 

wholesaler is also the retailer’s 

acquisition price. The retailer 

displays the beverages in its 

grocery section.

The retailer sells the beverages 

to its shoppers; the price paid is 

the retailer’s price received.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 3 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

There are two main reasons behind this tendency toward 

volatility:

y Two prices—selling prices and acquisition prices—are 

used to calculate margin prices. Both of these may, and 

often do, change from month to month.

y Even small changes in price may represent a large 

portion of the margin in percentage terms.

Unlike most PPIs, which are calculated on the basis of the 

latest selling price of products or services, margin PPIs are 

calculated from both the updated selling price and the 

updated acquisition price of products. Especially when 

these two prices move in opposite directions, the margin 

can change significantly in a single month.

Even a small change in price may be significant in percentage 

terms. Think of the shoppers in exhibit 1; suppose that the 

average price paid for a bottled beverage at the grocery 

retailer is $1.00. Even if the price the retailer pays in acquiring 

the product from the wholesaler stays the same, say, $0.90 per 

bottle, consider the change in margin if the retailer raises its 

selling price by just $0.05. (See exhibit 2.)

Exhibit 2

Margin price volatility with small price changes

Average selling price in month a = $1.00.

Average acquisition price in month a = $0.90.

Margin received in month a = $1.00 – $0.90 = $0.10.

Now consider an increase of $0.05 in the selling price in month b:

Average selling price in month b = $1.05.

Average acquisition price in month b = $0.90.

Margin received in month b = $1.05 – $0.90 = $0.15.

Percent change in margin received from month a to b = [($0.15 – 

$0.10)/ $0.10] * 100 = 50.0%.

To extend the example in exhibit 2 further, what if the 

wholesaler also had discounted its selling price to the 

retailer in month b by just $0.02 per bottle? The change 

would have been recorded as a 70.0-percent increase 

in the margin price. Although this example may seem 

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

-16

-12

-8

-4

0

4

8

12

16

M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M

2010 2011 2012

Wholesale distribution of grocery and related products

Supermarket and other grocery store services

Finished consumer foods

Monthly percent changes in margins received by grocery wholesalers and retailers compared to prices 

received by food manufacturers, May 2010–May 2012

Percent change

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Chart 1
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 4 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

extreme, it is not unusual price behavior for individual 

products at your local retailer.

A common misuse of margin indexes

A common misconception regarding wholesale and 

retail trade indexes is that they track prices for goods 

sold by wholesalers and retailers, rather than margins. 

This misconception leads to a common misuse of 

margin indexes for price adjustment clauses in contracts 

for goods. When a PPI is not available for a certain 

grouping of goods, but there is an index for the trade 

establishments selling them, a data user might be 

inclined to use the trade index as a proxy for those 

products. For example, because only a limited number 

of PPIs are available for consumer electronics (since few 

such products are manufactured in the United States), 

but there is a margin PPI for retail electronics stores, it 

may be tempting to substitute the trade index for the 

manufacturing index. However, doing so would be a 

major misuse of data, because margin PPIs measure the 

value of the retail electronics stores’ services, not the 

value of the goods themselves.

The appropriate use of PPI data for the wholesale and retail 

trade sector is the analysis of price movements within 

and across industries. For example, a wholesale or retail 

trade establishment could use margin indexes to assess 

how it is managing margins compared with the average 

change in margins in its industry, in other trade industries, 

or in the trade sector as a whole. Changes in margins also 

may be used to investigate the effects of promotions 

and seasonality (such as holidays, when retailers typically 

advertise more discounts). Are retailers sacrificing their 

margins to sell more at certain times of the year? Do 

holidays that revolve more around food affect margins 

differently than holidays that revolve around purchasing 

gifts? These are the types of questions that may be 

investigated with margin PPIs.

Margin PPIs are published in the monthly PPI Detailed 

Report, table 5 (industry codes 42-45, excluding 429930) 

and table 6 (commodity codes 57 and 58), as well as in 

the online PPI Databases. More information on margin 

indexes can be found in several articles listed on the 

PPI Methodology webpage. For assistance, contact the 

PPI Section of Index Analysis and Public Information at 

ppi-info@bls.gov or (202) 691-7705.

Price trends: producer prices move 

lower in second quarter 2012

The PPI for finished goods fell 1.2 percent in the second 

quarter of 2012, compared with a 0.6-percent advance 

in the first quarter.1 Most of this reversal can be traced 

to prices for finished energy goods, which decreased 

6.5 percent for the 3 months ended in June, following 

a 0.5-percent rise in the preceding quarter. The index 

for finished goods less foods and energy moved up 0.6 

percent after increasing 0.8 percent from December to 

March. In contrast, prices for finished consumer foods

inched up 0.2 percent in the second quarter, following 

a 0.3-percent decline in the first quarter. At the earlier 

stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of 

intermediate goods fell 1.8 percent for the 3 months ended 

in June, after climbing 1.5 percent in the previous quarter. 

This shift is attributable, in roughly equal proportions, 

to downturns in the indexes for intermediate goods less 

foods and energy and intermediate energy goods. In 

contrast, prices for intermediate foods and feeds rose more 

than they did in the previous quarter. From March to June, 

the crude goods index dropped 10.8 percent, following a 

0.9-percent decrease in the first quarter of 2012. Prices for 

crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs and core crude goods fell 

in the second quarter after increasing in the first quarter, 

while the index for crude energy materials moved down at 

a faster rate than it had from December to March.2

Economic background

In the energy goods sector, the index for wellhead natural 

gas was 44.7 percent lower in June 2012 than a year earlier. 

In fact, prices for wellhead natural gas are at their lowest 

point in nearly a decade. According to the U.S. Energy 

Information Administration (EIA), increased natural gas 

production has resulted in storage well above its 5-year 

historical average. For the week ended June 29, working 

gas in underground storage was about 3,100 billion 

cubic feet, 22.7 percent above its 5-year average and 24.1 

percent higher than a year earlier.3 Furthermore, lower 
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 5 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

wellhead prices for natural gas have contributed to a 

significant shift in electric power generation. In April, for 

the first time, the quantity of electric power generated 

from natural gas equaled that generated from coal-fired 

electric power.4 In terms of the influence on utility power 

prices, the index for utility natural gas decreased 12.9 

percent and prices for utility electric power inched down 

in June, compared with a year earlier. In the petroleum 

products market, prices for both crude petroleum and 

refined petroleum products turned down after previous 

gains. For the week ended July 6, 2012, crude oil stocks and 

crude inputs to refineries were slightly higher than a year 

earlier, while overall demand for finished motor gasoline 

was 3.9 percent lower than in mid-2011.5

In the sector for goods other than food and energy, the PPI 

for crude core moved lower after an earlier runup in prices. 

Weak markets for basic industrial materials, such as iron and 

steel scrap, nonferrous scrap, nonferrous metal ores, and 

wastepaper, led the downturn. Similarly, within intermediate 

core, prices for partially processed materials used for durable

and nondurable goods manufacturing also reversed course 

by mid-2012, after surging in the first quarter. Prices for more 

highly processed intermediate goods, such as components 

for manufacturing and construction, as well as supplies for 

business, continued to rise, although at slower rates. However, 

within finished core, prices for consumer goods other than 

foods and energy and for capital equipment continued to 

advance steadily.6 On July 15, the Federal Reserve Board of 

Governors reported that industrial production and capacity 

utilization remained mixed. Industrial production moved up 

0.4 percent in June, after edging down 0.2 percent in May. 

For the 12 months ended June 2012, industrial production 

advanced 4.7 percent, but only 1.6 percent in the first half of 

2012. Capacity utilization expanded 1.3 percent since June 

2011, to 78.9 percent of total capacity, and only 0.8 percent 

since December 2011.7 In its June survey, the Institute for 

Supply Management (ISM) reported that its measure of 

manufacturing activity contracted in June, the first decline 

since July 2009. ISM also reported declines in new orders, 

inventories, prices, and exports.8

In the food sector, the inflation picture remained mixed. 

The index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs declined in 

the second quarter after climbing in the first 3 months 

of the year. This reversal was broad based and included 

downturns in prices for slaughter cattle, slaughter poultry, 

and grains, as well as larger declines in raw milk prices. 

In contrast, the index for intermediate foods and feeds

increased at a faster rate in the second quarter, while prices 

for finished consumer foods inched up after edging down 

in the first quarter. Prices for prepared animal feeds rose at 

an accelerated pace, while the indexes for beef products, 

eggs, and cheese products moved up following declines in 

the first quarter.

Finished goods

The PPI for finished goods moved down 1.2 percent 

for the 3 months ended June 2012, subsequent to 

a 0.6-percent advance in the first quarter of 2012. 

Accounting for more than 90 percent of this downturn, 

prices for finished energy goods dropped from March 

to June after rising in the previous 3-month period. The 

index for finished goods less foods and energy increased 

less in the 3 months ended in June compared with 

the previous quarter. By contrast, finished consumer 

foods prices turned up in the second quarter of 2012, 

following a decrease from December 2011 to March 

2012. (See chart 2.)

The index for finished energy goods dropped 6.5 percent 

for the 3-month period ended in June, compared with 

a 0.5-percent rise from December to March. Prices for 

gasoline fell 8.7 percent from March to June, after rising 

4.2 percent for the 3 months ended in March. The indexes 

for diesel fuel and home heating oil also turned down 

after increasing in the first quarter. Prices for liquefied 

petroleum gas and residential electric power decreased 

more in the second quarter than from December to March. 

By contrast, price decreases for residential natural gas

slowed to 2.2 percent from March to June, from 5.7 percent 

for the 3 months ended in March.

Prices for finished goods other than foods and energy

increased 0.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012, after 

moving up 0.8 percent in the previous 3-month period. 

Accounting for more than 40 percent of this deceleration, 

the pharmaceutical preparations index rose 1.0 percent, 
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 6 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

compared with a 2.6-percent increase in the previous 

quarter. Prices for rubber and rubber products turned 

down for the 3-month period ended in June, subsequent 

to advancing from December to March. The index for radio 

and television communication equipment was unchanged 

in the second quarter, after increasing in the previous 

3-month period. By contrast, the index for nonwood 

commercial furniture and store fixtures advanced 4.1 

percent from March to June, following a 1.3-percent 

decline a quarter earlier. Prices for cosmetics and other 

toilet preparations also turned up after falling in the 3 

months ended in March.

For the 3 months ended in June, the index for finished 

consumer foods moved up 0.2 percent, following a 

0.3-percent decrease from December to March. Leading 

this upturn, prices for beef and veal rose 5.6 percent, 

subsequent to a 2.6-percent drop in the first quarter. The 

indexes for eggs for fresh use; fresh vegetables, except 

potatoes; and natural, processed, and imitation cheese

also turned up from March to June, after declining for 

the 3 months ended in March. By contrast, prices for pork

fell 9.8 percent in the second quarter, compared with 

a 0.5-percent decrease from December to March. The 

index for processed young chickens increased less for the 

3-month period ended in June than in the first quarter.

Intermediate goods

The PPI for intermediate materials, supplies, and 

components moved down 1.8 percent for the 3-month 

period ending in June, subsequent to a 1.5-percent 

advance in the 3 months ended in March. The downturn 

in the second quarter of 2012 can be traced to the 

indexes for intermediate goods less foods and energy

and intermediate energy goods, both of which fell in the 

second quarter after rising from December to March. By 

contrast, prices for intermediate foods and feeds advanced 

more in the second than in the first quarter. (See chart 3.)

Prices for intermediate goods less foods and energy

declined 0.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with 

a 1.8-percent rise from December to March. The index for 

industrial chemicals led this downturn, falling 5.1 percent 

from March to June, subsequent to an 8.2-percent jump in 

the first quarter. Prices for nonferrous metals, thermoplastic 

resins and materials, steel mill products, and rubber and 

rubber products also decreased in the 3 months ended 

in June, after rising in the previous quarter. The index 

0.6

-0.3

0.5

0.8

-1.2

0.2

-6.5

0.6

-8.0

-6.0

-4.0

-2.0

0.0

2.0

Overall Food Energy Core

Percent change December 2011–March 2012 March 2012–June 2012

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three-month percent change in PPI for overall, food, energy, and core finished goods, seasonally adjusted, 

first quarter 2012 and second quarter 2012

Chart 2

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 7 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

for prepared paint rose less from March to June than in 

the first quarter. By contrast, the index for agricultural 

chemicals and chemical products moved up 1.8 percent in 

the second quarter, following a 3.1-percent decline in the 

first quarter.

The index for intermediate energy goods fell 6.1 percent for 

the 3 months ended in June, following a 0.9-percent rise in 

the previous quarter. Diesel fuel prices dropped 13.9 percent 

from March to June, after rising 2.8 percent in the preceding 

quarter. The indexes for gasoline, jet fuel, lubricating oil base 

stocks, and residual fuel also turned down after advancing 

from December to March. Prices for liquefied petroleum 

gas fell more in the second quarter than in the previous 3 

months. By contrast, the index for commercial electric power

moved up 0.2 percent for the 3 months ended in June, 

following a 1.9-percent decline in the first quarter.

The index for intermediate foods and feeds climbed 1.4 

percent for the 3 months ended in June, after moving up 

0.2 percent in the first quarter. Nearly 80 percent of the 

second-quarter acceleration can be attributed to prices 

for processed animal feeds, which advanced 6.2 percent 

compared with a 2.1-percent rise in the first quarter. The 

indexes for natural, processed, and imitation cheese and 

for beef and veal increased following decreases from 

December to March. Conversely, prices for confectionary 

materials declined 9.0 percent for the 3 months ended in 

June, following a 10.3-percent jump in the first quarter. 

Prices for young chickens rose less in the second quarter, 

while the index for pork fell more than it had in the 3 

months ended in March.

Crude goods

After moving down 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, 

the PPI for crude materials for further processing decreased 

10.8 percent in the second quarter. Leading this faster rate 

of decline, prices for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs and 

for crude nonfood materials less energy turned down in 

the second quarter, after rising in the 3 months ended in 

March. The index for crude energy materials fell more than 

it did in the first quarter. (See chart 4.)

The index for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs declined 

7.2 percent for the 3 months ended in June, following a 

5.1-percent advance in the previous quarter. About onefourth of the reversal can be traced to prices for slaughter 

cattle, which dropped 4.7 percent in the second quarter 

after climbing 8.1 percent in the previous 3 months. The 

indexes for corn, slaughter poultry, and oilseeds also 

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1.5

0.2

0.9

1.8

-1.8

1.4

-6.1

-0.7

-8.0

-6.0

-4.0

-2.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

Overall Food Energy Core

Percent change December 2011–March 2012 March 2012–June 2012

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three-month percent change in PPI for overall, food, energy, and core intermediate goods, seasonally 

adjusted, first quarter 2012 and second quarter 2012

Chart 3
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 8 www.bls.gov

BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

decreased following increases in the first quarter. Raw milk

prices fell more in the second quarter than they did in the 

first. By contrast, the index for slaughter hogs moved up 

2.4 percent for the 3 months ended in June, compared 

with a 6.8-percent decline in the preceding quarter.

The index for crude energy materials fell 16.0 percent in 

the second quarter, after moving down 8.5 percent in 

the previous 3-month period. This faster rate of decline is 

attributable to prices for crude petroleum, which dropped 

24.9 percent, following a 2.3-percent decrease in the first 

quarter. Conversely, price declines for wellhead natural 

gas slowed to 2.9 percent in the second quarter, from 27.5 

percent for the 3 months ended in March. The coal index 

increased 2.6 percent after decreasing 5.9 percent in the 

previous quarter.

The index for crude nonfood materials less energy fell 7.0 

percent in the second quarter, following a 2.5-percent rise 

in the preceding quarter. Nearly half of the downturn can 

be linked to prices for iron and steel scrap, which dropped 

15.2 percent after moving up 0.6 percent in the first 

quarter. The indexes for nonferrous metal ores, nonferrous 

scrap, grains, and raw cotton also turned down for the 3 

months ended in June. Conversely, prices for corrugated 

wastepaper inched up 0.3 percent, compared with a 

10.9-percent decrease in the first quarter.

Trade industries

The Producer Price Index for the net output of total 

trade industries moved up 0.8 percent in the second 

quarter of 2012, after rising 1.5 percent in the previous 

3-month period. (Trade industry PPIs measure changes 

in margins received by wholesalers and retailers.) From 

March to June, higher prices received by warehouse clubs 

and supercenters, gasoline stations, new car dealers, 

and supermarkets outweighed lower prices received by 

wholesale trade industries and family clothing stores.

Transportation and warehousing industries

The Producer Price Index for the net output of 

transportation and warehousing industries increased 

0.4 percent from March to June, compared with a 

2.5-percent gain in the 3-month period ended in 

March. In the second quarter, prices received by the 

scheduled passenger air transportation industry 

moved up 0.3 percent, following a 5.5-percent climb 

from December to March. The industry index for 

couriers also rose less compared with the first-quarter 

increase. Prices received by the long-distance general 

-0.9

5.1

-8.5

2.5

-10.8

-7.2

-16.0

-7.0

-18.0

-15.0

-12.0

-9.0

-6.0

-3.0

0.0

3.0

6.0

9.0

Overall Food Energy Core

Percent change December 2011–March 2012 March 2012–June 2012

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Three-month percent change in PPI for overall, food, energy, and core crude goods, seasonally adjusted, 

first quarter 2012 and second quarter 2012

Chart 4

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 9 www.bls.gov

freight trucking industry group and the industry for 

local trucking of specialized freight turned down 

after rising from December to March. The index for 

the U.S. Postal Service was unchanged from March to 

June, subsequent to an increase in the first quarter. By 

contrast, prices received by the scheduled air freight 

transportation industry rose 6.5 percent in the 3-month 

period ended in June, following a 5.4-percent decline 

from December to March.

Traditional service industries

The Producer Price Index for the net output of total 

traditional service industries edged up 0.2 percent from 

March to June, after rising 0.6 percent from December to 

March. Prices received by the direct health and medical 

insurance carriers industry moved up 0.4 percent, following 

a 1.3-percent gain in the previous 3-month period. The 

index for noncasino hotels and motels also rose less from 

March to June compared with the previous quarter’s 

increase. Prices received by the security, commodity 

contracts, and like activity industry group and the 

passenger car rental industry turned down in the second 

quarter. By contrast, the index for the commercial banking

industry advanced 2.1 percent from March to June, 

following a 3.3-percent decline from December to March. 

Prices received by lessors of nonresidential buildings

also turned up in the second quarter, after falling from 

December to March. 

This BEYOND THE NUMBERS report was prepared by 

staff in the Division of Industrial Prices and Price Indexes, Office 

of Prices and Living Conditions, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Email: ppi-info@bls.gov; telephone: (202) 691-7705.

Information in this summary will be made available to 

sensory-impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 

(202) 691-5200. Federal Relay Service: 1 (800) 877-8339. 

This summary is in the public domain and may be 

reproduced without permission. 

Suggested citation:

“Wholesale and retail Producer Price Indexes: margin 

prices,” Beyond the Numbers: Prices and Spending, Vol.1, 

Number 8 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2012), 

http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-1/wholesaleand-retail-Producer-Price-Indexes-margin-prices.htm.

Notes

1. Price movements for PPIs described in this summary include preliminary data for the months of March 2012 through June 2012. 

All PPI data are recalculated 4 months after their original publication, to reflect late data received from survey respondents. In 

addition, seasonally adjusted PPIs are recalculated on an annual basis for 5 years, to reflect more recent seasonal patterns.

2. Within the PPI stage-of-processing structure, the indexes for goods other than foods and energy commonly are referred to as 

the core indexes.

3. Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, July 6, 2012), 

http://ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html. Working gas is the volume of gas in the reservoir above the level of base gas. Working gas 

is available to the marketplace. Base gas (or cushion gas) is the volume of gas intended as permanent inventory in a storage 

reservoir to maintain adequate pressure and deliverability rates throughout the withdrawal season.

Upcoming articles

y Consumer Price Index data quality: how accurate 

is the U.S. CPI?

y How parents use time and money

y Who received benefits in private industry in 2012?

Visit our online archives to access past publications at

http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/archive/home.htm.
BEYOND THENUMBERS PRICES AND SPENDING

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS | AUGUST 2012 10 www.bls.gov

4. Today in Energy: Monthly coal- and natural gas-fired generation equal for first time in April 2012 (U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. 

Energy Information Administration, July 6, 2012), http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/archive.cfm?my=Jul2012.

For the period from January 2007 to December 2010, electric power generation from coal averaged about 46.5 percent of total 

generation; natural gas averaged 22.8 percent and nuclear sources 19.7 percent. The remainder of electric power generation 

came from renewable, petroleum, and other sources.

5. Weekly Petroleum Status Report, DOE/EIA-0208(2012-79), (U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, July 11, 

2012), http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_petroleum_status_report/historical/2012/

2012_07_11/pdf/wpsrall.pdf. See also This Week in Petroleum (U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 

July 11, 2012), http://www.eia.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html. For the 4-week period ended July 6, 2012, demand for 

finished motor gasoline averaged 8.864 million barrels per day, compared with 9.226 million barrels per day a year earlier.

6. More highly processed intermediate and finished goods commonly exhibit price movements that are somewhat different from 

price movements for less processed goods, because basic material costs tend to be smaller portions of total costs for producers 

of more highly processed goods than for manufacturers of less processed goods. Contracts and escalation agreements also can 

delay or mitigate the pass-through effect of early-stage price volatility at successive stages of processing.

7. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, G.17 (419) (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, July 17, 2012), 

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/.

8. June 2012 Manufacturing ISM Report on Business (Tempe, AZ, Institute for Supply Management, July 2, 2012), http://www.ism.ws/

ismreport/mfgrob.cfm. For archived copies, contact ISM Report on Business, public relations office, (800) 888-6276.