The Consumer Price Index is used to calculate inflation, or the change in price of a basket of goods and services, as it impacts consumers; whereas, the Producer Price Index measures changes in selling prices, thereby expressing price changes from the perspective of the seller who produces a particular commodity.
A slide presentation updated with July 2017 data shows the Midwest inflation rate dropped slightly from June to July. While the urban metropolitan areas noticed a -0.16% decrease, the non-metropolitan urban areas saw an increase of 0.28%.
The Producer Price Index data shows that prices in the United States have increased from July 2016 to July 2017 for aircraft (0.7 percent), natural gas (6.6 percent), slaughter livestock (3.8%), sorghum (23.2%), and wheat (41.2 percent). During that same time period, the index decreased crude petroleum (-2.6 percent).
