WASHINGTON — Wholesale prices for U.S.-produced women’s and girls’ apparel were unchanged in December compared with November, but posted a 0.3 percent gain against a year ago, according to the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index.
Overall, prices for all finished goods at the wholesale level increased 0.7 percent for the month and were up 4.1 percent from December 2003, the largest year-over-year boost since a 5.7 percent jump in 1990, according to the report released Friday.
The PPI is an early measure of inflation in the economy. When the volatile food and energy prices are excluded, wholesale prices for all finished goods for the year had a more moderate 2.2 percent increase. By comparison, in 2003, the wholesale prices rose 1 percent, minus food and energy.
A comparison in price changes year-over-year for apparel in 2003 against 2002 cannot be made because the agency last year employed a new way of calculating price changes.
However, U.S. apparel makers have long noted difficulty in raising prices because of stiffer competition from low-priced imports, which account for the vast majority of apparel sold at retail. In 2004, all apparel prices fell 0.2 percent compared with 2003.
Bras were among the categories of women’s and girls’ apparel tracked by the government that had notable price changes, posting a year-over-year gain of 3 percent, as did women’s and girls’ outerwear. Women’s, misses’ and juniors’ dresses rose 1.2 percent during the year. Women’s and girls’ knit shirts and blouses fell 0.1 percent for the month and 1.1 percent for the year.