PRODUCER PRICES FOR TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT
PRODUCER PRICES FOR TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT
Producer Price Index: Equipment by Mode (monthly data, not seasonally adjusted)
Equipment cost accounts for approximately 47 percent of the total cost of user-operated transportation services. In the past decade, producer prices for transportation equipment have undergone a gradual but consistent increase. Increases in the producer prices for aircraft and parts and for ships and boats contributed most significantly to the rise in overall producer prices for transportation equipment. The increase in producer prices for railroad equipment and motor vehicles has been much slower, remaining at nearly the same level since 1997. Motor vehicle prices are strongly seasonal, declining as the model year culminates each September.
| Price Index (Jan-92=100) | Apr-01 | Apr-02 |
|---|---|---|
| Aircraft and parts | 122.3 | 124.2 |
| Aircraft and parts percent change from same month previous year | 3.75 | 1.59 |
| Ships and boats | 125.1 | 126.1 |
| Ships and boats percent change from same month previous year | 2.55 | 0.77 |
| Railroad equipment | 110.6 | 110.3 |
| Railroad equipment percent change from same month previous year | -0.22 | -0.30 |
| Motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment | 106.2 | 104.7 |
| Motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment percent change from same month previous year | 0.08 | -1.36 |
NOTES: The current value is compared to the value from the same period in the previous year to account for seasonality.
The base period of the original index is 1982. January 1992 is set to be the new reference point (=100) by dividing the values of the original index by the value of January 1992 in the original index. It is important to point out that this process changes only the reference point, and not the base period of the index because the weight structure of the index did not change.
Data from January 2002 to April 2002 are preliminary.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, available at: http://www.bls.gov/ppi/