Federal Labor Officials Introduces New Price Data for Ready Mixed Concrete

The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a weighted index of prices measured at the wholesale, or producer, level. A monthly release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the PPI shows trends within the wholesale markets, manufacturing industries and commodities markets. The BLS recently introduced new regional details for ready mixed concrete that can be found here, reports NRMCA’s Senior Director, National Resources, Doug O’Neill.

"The Bureau has broken down numbers for the Northeast, Midwest, South and Western regions of the U.S., which becomes a more accurate tool when attempting to interpret regional economic indicators," he noted. An index is a tool that simplifies the measurement of movements in a numerical series. Movements are measured with respect to a base period, when the index is set to 100. Currently, some PPIs have an index base set at 1982 = 100, while the remainder have an index base that corresponds with the month prior to the month that the index was introduced. BLS measures price change in relation to that figure. An index level of 110, for example, means there has been a 10% increase in prices since the base period; similarly, an index level of 90 indicates a 10% decrease in prices.