Are actual prices published?
No, BLS publishes only price indexes, not actual or average prices. Of course, actual transaction prices are used in the calculation of the indexes. The actual prices are not published because they are provided on a voluntary and confidential basis by PPI reporters. Should a PPI user have a need for a time series of actual prices for an item, BLS suggests that the user obtain the actual price from a published source, such as a trade journal, and move it forward or backward by the change in the applicable PPI.
