Tuesday, April 15, 2008

U.S. food and energy costs soar



Go to Financial Times original
Soaring energy and food bills spurred another jump in US producer prices last month, putting further strain on industries struggling to pass on rising costs to penny-pinching consumers.
Prices at the factory gate rose 1.1 per cent in March, almost twice the 0.6 per cent rate forecast by economists and compared with an increase of 0.3 per cent last month.

The increase was largely driven by surging food and energy costs with the price of finished energy goods climbing 2.9 per cent while food goods increased by 1.2 per cent.

Core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, rose by 0.2 per cent, in line with expectations, and much lower than a rate of 0.5 per cent in February. Core inflation has risen 2.7 per cent in the past year, the fastest rate since July 2005.

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