Dive Brief:
- A producer price index for long-distance LTL rose 10.5% year over year in August — the biggest increase since November 2022, per preliminary federal data.
- The index measures price change from the sellers’ perspective and excludes imports. In contrast, the consumer price index is from the purchasers’ perspective and includes imports.
- “2025 is pacing to be an above-average year for PPI growth,” C.H. Robinson Worldwide said in a monthly report.
LTL PPI rises significantly in August YoY
Dive Insight:
A 32-year average of LTL PPI is 4.6%, according to C.H. Robinson, but every month this year has exceeded that benchmark.
That above-average trajectory is also in contrast to 2022, which averaged negative 1.4%, and 2023 averaging 3.4%, according to a Trucking Dive analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Diesel prices could be a key factor, where a year-over-year uptick reversed over two years’ worth of YoY declines, C.H. Robinson noted.
Since late July, diesel prices have consistently risen every Monday compared to a year ago. Increases were particularly pronounced in September, averaging from 3% to 6% higher than those in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The Oct. 6 national average was 3.5% higher YoY.
“With difficult comparables for diesel prices expected over the next several months, further increases in diesel costs are likely,” C.H. Robinson reported. “This upward pressure is expected to flow through to the LTL PPI, contributing to above-average y/y changes in 2025.”
But diesel prices are not a primary driver of the LTL PPI, and they have been down 7% to 8% for the first half of the year compared to the same timeframe a year ago, the brokerage giant said in an email to Trucking Dive.
And while the index may be trending toward an above-average year for the industry as a whole, “not everyone is experiencing above-average rates,” Greg West, C.H. Robinson’s VP for LTL, said in the email.
