PPI Wholesale Inflation Report Shows Eggs Spike Prices Again
Key Points
- The producer’s price index showed that wholesale inflation rose 3.5% year-on-year in January and 0.4% from December, which increased price pressure.
- Egg prices rose 44% compared to last month, helping to drive overall food prices, while diesel prices rose 10% to stimulate higher fuel costs.
- Economists say the surge in egg prices cannot last, but said concerns about tariffs could drive further price increases.
Wholesalers can partially accuse eggs of raising prices in January, as the familiar inflation culprit reappears in the latest data.
Food prices rose 1.1% from last month, egg prices rose 44%, a huge contribution to the total, with beef rising nearly 6%. Fresh Egg price For wholesalers in January, it was almost three times the same month last year.
The data is Manufacturer Price Index (PPI)This shows that wholesale prices rose in January, which surprised economists and increased inflationary pressure Retail prices rise unexpectedly.
Fuel prices also soar
Overall, wholesalers paid 3.5% higher in January than the same period last year and 0.4% higher than in December. Economists are surveyed Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones News An estimated monthly increase of 0.3%.
This increase was also caused by a 1.7% increase in energy prices, as well as a 10.4% increase in diesel fuel prices, while household heating oils were also rising.
Egg prices are unlikely to affect long-term
Rising egg prices are linked to avian flu outbreaks, thus reducing supply to poultry flocks, but economists say this is unlikely to have a long-term impact on inflation.
“The impact on the country’s inflation indicators can be a one-time event when farmers cope with the shock,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. “If an outbreak breaks out and improves supply If interrupted, the price will not happen again and again.”
The cost of hotel rooms has increased, but there are no other major shocks in the wholesale inflation report. But, the economist wrote, Tariffs may raise prices In the next few months.
“The business sector is still in a to-see mode to see what might happen to global supply chains as price uncertainty makes it more difficult to expand business, if have).”