Jewelry Price Inflation Continues to Moderate
IDEX Online, Israel
(October 5, ’06, 4:23 Ken Gassman)
The news about inflation in the U.S. is all good: both consumer prices and producer prices are rising far less rapidly than earlier this year. Likewise, inflationary pressures in the jewelry industry reflect those same broad-based positive trends that characterize the U.S. economy.
In August, jewelry producer prices rose by only 7.6 percent, far below May’s price spike of over 11 percent, and in line with July’s price rise of about 7.6 percent. The rise in consumer prices for jewelry also slowed in August, with a gain of only 3.5 percent, just barely above the core inflation rate for all commodities (ex-food and energy) of 2.8 percent for the month.
The lack of price inflation – especially for jewelry as well as gasoline, heating oil, and other energy sources – is good news for jewelers as the jewelry industry enters the all-important 2006 holiday selling season. Shoppers will have more discretionary income available to purchase luxury items such as jewelry.
Jewelry Producer Prices Moderate
Cooling commodity prices helped bring about lower inflation for jewelry manufacturers and suppliers in August. While precious metal prices are still well above year-ago levels, they fell from record heights set earlier this year.
The graph below summarizes the U.S. Producer Price Index for jewelry and jewelry products.
