What the Nonferrous Mill Shapes PPI Actually Measures

Source identity correction: this page previously described aluminum mill shapes. The stored BLS series is WPU1025, Nonferrous Mill Shapes, covering the broad nonferrous mill-shapes commodity group. The historical readings and page address are preserved; the earlier narrower product interpretation was incorrect.

Nonferrous Mill Shapes stands at 399.03 index (1982=100) in the latest archived observation, Aug 2026, up about 23.3% from a year ago. These are index points with a 1982=100 base, not dollars per pound or per tonne.

Identify the source before interpreting the number

WPU1025 measures producer prices for the broad nonferrous mill-shapes commodity group. The word nonferrous describes a category beyond one metal. Its published change is a change in that category's index; it is not evidence that every included product, or every purchase containing those products, changed by the same percentage.

Nonferrous Mill Shapes, Aug 2026: 399.03. WPU1025; broad producer price index, 1982=100.

What the index level means

At 399.03, the index is 3.99 times its base-year level. That ratio describes the published index over time. It does not reconstruct the current price of an individual 1982 purchase, establish a transaction price today, or give a conversion spread against an exchange quote. Use percentage changes within this same series for a like-for-like comparison.

Check the scope of any comparison

Use this series as broad producer-price context. It does not isolate aluminum, copper, brass, an alloy, a finished component or your supplier's invoice. A movement in the aggregate cannot identify which metal moved or separate raw-material, energy, labor and fabrication contributions. For a product-specific decision, obtain the corresponding product series and supplier pricing on the same units and dates.

Use your actual material price, quantity and an explicit change assumption to estimate cost sensitivity. Model a documented price scenario