Wholesale Level Inflation Soars In March

WASHINGTON — Inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been forecast as energy prices kept rising and food costs posted a much bigger jump than anticipated.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices rose by 1.1% last month, the largest increase since a 2.6% rise last November. The November gain in the Producer Price Index was the biggest one-month jump in 33 years.

Analysts had expected a much more moderate 0.4 percent rise in wholesale prices for the month. However, food costs, which had fallen by 0.5% in February, leapt by 1.2% last month, propelled upward by big gains in vegetables and beef and the biggest increase in rice prices in more than five years. Those were far higher increases in food prices than expected.

Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, was better behaved last month, rising by just 0.2%, down from a worrisome 0.5% rise in February.

But with the crude oil price rising to a record close of $113.79 a barrel yesterday, analysts said consumers should be braced for more bad inflation news to come. "Wholesale prices are rising and the consumer should expect more shocks at the supermarket and the gas station," the chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, Joel Naroff, said.

The surge in energy and food costs is coming just as unemployment is rising and many economists believe the country has fallen into a recession, developments that have taken a toll on President Bush's approval ratings. Seven out of 10 Americans now disapprove of Mr. Bush's handling of the economy, an all-time high, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Democrats, hoping to win the White House in November, said the string of bad economic statistics showed how Americans were hurting.

"As the paychecks of middle class families get smaller and their homes lose value, their wallets are being further emptied by the skyrocketing everyday costs of gas and food," Senator Schumer said. On Wall Street, stocks climbed higher as investors were encouraged by a report showing a modest rebound in manufacturing in the New York region. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 60.41 points to close at 12,362.47.

For the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up by 6.9% and core inflation is up by 2.7%, the biggest year-over-year increase in nearly two years.