WASHINGTON – Wholesale prices in the United States rose sharply in May, registering their highest 12-month increase in more than three years, as surging energy prices due to the war on Iran course through the world’s largest economy. The Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 6.5 per cent for the 12 months ending in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on June 11, the highest level since November 2022. Month-on-month prices rose by 1.1 per cent, which was higher than market expectations. The United
States has been battling stubbornly high inflation since the Covid-19 pandemic, with President Donald Trump’s signature tariffs and the US-Israel war on Iran piling pressure on prices. Tehran has retaliated by virtually closing the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies normally pass. Analysts have warned that the longer the crisis continues, the more likely it is that energy price increases will begin to bleed through into other goods. On June 11, the BLS also revised
previous PPI data for 2026, with April’s year-on-year reading moved downwards to 5.7 per cent from 6 per cent. The reading in March was revised up to 4.3 per cent. The BLS said nearly 80 per cent of the advance in May was attributable to an increase in the goods index, with the services index rising only modestly in the month. The numbers were released a day after US consumer inflation also came in at a three-year high, rising 4.2 per cent year-on-year in May.
Trump has brushed off inflation as temporary and insisted that the economy will bounce back quickly after the war is over – an assertion that economists say is unlikely to occur. AFP
US wholesale prices, PPI, Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation, energy prices, Strait of Hormuz, war on Iran, tariffs, Producer Price Index, consumer inflation, June 11