Chemical prices rise in December

U.S. chemical prices improved in the final month of 2006, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. The producer price index for all chemicals was 206.7 (1982 = 100), up 0.2% from November and 2.4% ahead of the year-earlier December. For industrial chemicals, the December index rose 0.8% from the previous month and 5.4% from the comparable month in 2005 to 213.5. For all of 2006, the average index for all chemicals increased 7.4% from 2005, while that for industrial chemicals was up 13.1%. These are the smallest full-year increases for the respective sectors since 2003.