The increase was sharply up from March, when year-on-year PPI inflation was 4.0 percent. That figure, too, was fuelled by higher energy prices due to the Iran war.
The wholesale prices came a day after US consumer inflation also came in at a three-year high, registering at 3.8 percent year-on-year in April.
Walmart, a company famous for its intense focus on low prices, already announced rare price hikes last year, and the rising costs may intensify pressure to do so again. It is not alone.
Whirlpool, which makes KitchenAid and Maytag appliances, reported this month that its revenue dropped nearly 10 percent in its most recent quarter and said that the war has caused a “recession-level industry decline” that has undermined consumer confidence. It had announced a 10 percent price hike in April, its largest in a decade, and said that a separate 4 percent price increase is coming in July.
The company had absorbed the higher costs, choosing not to pass them on to customers, but that is changing.
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Trump defends policies
Trump has made tackling high prices a key part of his political agenda, but has been unable to bring prices significantly lower — other than for some commodities — since returning to power last year.
Inflation will be a major political issue for voters heading into midterm elections in November, where control of both houses of the US Congress will be up for grabs.
During a press gaggle before Trump boarded Air Force One for China on Tuesday, the US president defended his record by pointing to pre-war lows, pinned the blame on the Iran war, downplayed the spike as temporary, and said Americans’ pocketbook struggles were not a factor in his Iran policy — only stopping a nuclear Iran mattered.
When directly asked if Americans’ financial pain such as rising gas and grocery prices or falling real wages was motivating him to push for a deal to end the Iran war, Trump said: “Not even a little bit… I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”
He described the current inflation as “short-term“ and said it is “much lower than it was under Biden (previous administration,” insisting “My [economic] policies are working incredibly.”
