Commercial furniture prices rose 3.9% in the year to August as steel rose 23%

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:13:30 -0400

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) producer price index for commercial furniture rose to 346.188 in August 2026. A producer price index, or PPI, tracks the prices that US manufacturers receive for what they make. This index is set to 1982=100 and is not seasonally adjusted. The August value is preliminary. It is 0.5% above July and 3.9% above August 2025, and it rose for the fourth month in a row to the highest value in a series that FRED carries back to 1947. Over the same 12 months, the BLS index for steel mill products rose 23.4% and the index for aluminum mill shapes rose 27.3%.

Commercial furniture prices set a record in August

PPI for commercial furniture, index 1982=100, not seasonally adjusted

May through August 2026 are preliminary. Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

PPI for commercial furniture, last 13 months. MoM and YoY are percent changes.
Month	Index	MoM	YoY
Aug 2025	333.18	0.1%	4.6%
Sep 2025	333.90	0.2%	4.1%
Oct 2025	336.53	0.8%	5.1%
Nov 2025	336.27	-0.1%	4.8%
Dec 2025	337.33	0.3%	5.1%
Jan 2026	339.37	0.6%	5.4%
Feb 2026	339.99	0.2%	4.9%
Mar 2026	340.45	0.1%	4.9%
Apr 2026	339.85	-0.2%	3.5%
May 2026	341.72	0.6%	4.0%
Jun 2026	343.43	0.5%	3.7%
Jul 2026	344.39	0.3%	3.5%
Aug 2026	346.19	0.5%	3.9%

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

The August value is 1.8% above the 12-month average of 339.95, and it ranks first of the last 25 months. The 12-month change reached 5.4% in January 2026, the highest since July 2023, and has run between 3.5% and 4.0% since April. (For scale, the BLS index for final demand, its broadest measure, rose 5.4% over the 12 months ended in August, unadjusted.)

What moved

BLS also publishes price indexes for the industries that make contract furniture, and all five of the indexes below rose over the year. Showcases, partitions, shelving and lockers rose the most, 7.1%, with 2.5% of that in August alone. The index for institutional furniture rose 5.1%. Within it, the index BLS titles public furniture for bars, bowling centers, cafeterias and restaurants rose 4.3%, and public building furniture rose 2.2%. Office furniture made from materials other than wood rose 4.0%.

Producer price indexes for commercial furniture, by industry. Changes are percent.
Index	FRED series	Base	Aug 2025	Jul 2026	Aug 2026	1-month change	12-month change	Change since Jan 2019
Commercial furniture	WPU122	1982=100	333.2	344.4	346.2	0.5%	3.9%	49.5%
Institutional furniture	PCU337127337127	Dec 2003=100	225.5	236.9	236.9	0.0%	5.1%	60.5%
Restaurant, bar and cafeteria furniture	PCU3371273371278	Dec 2003=100	204.3	211.2	213.2	1.0%	4.3%	67.6%
Office furniture, except wood	PCU337214337214	Dec 1979=100	443.0	461.4	460.8	-0.1%	4.0%	49.8%
Public building furniture	PCU3371273371275	Dec 1984=100	354.2	360.9	361.9	0.3%	2.2%	61.1%
Showcases, partitions, shelving and lockers	PCU337215337215	Dec 2003=100	230.3	240.8	246.8	2.5%	7.1%	54.7%

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

Measured from January 2019, before the pandemic, the spread is wider. Restaurant, bar and cafeteria furniture is up 67.6%, public building furniture 61.1% and institutional furniture 60.5%. The commercial furniture index is up 49.5%.

The materials moved faster. Steel mill products rose 1.7% in August and 23.4% over the year. Aluminum mill shapes fell 4.4% in August, and the BLS release names them among the month’s decreases, but they are still 27.3% above August 2025. Plywood rose 10.7%, lumber 7.6% and thermoplastic resins 7.3%. Since January 2019, steel mill products are up 72.6% and aluminum mill shapes 84.3%.

Producer price indexes for furniture materials. Changes are percent.
Index	FRED series	Base	Aug 2025	Jul 2026	Aug 2026	1-month change	12-month change	Change since Jan 2019
Steel mill products	WPU1017	1982=100	308.8	374.8	381.2	1.7%	23.4%	72.6%
Aluminum mill shapes	WPU102501	1982=100	291.3	388.0	370.9	-4.4%	27.3%	84.3%
Plywood	WPU083	1982=100	271.1	295.8	300.1	1.5%	10.7%	41.6%
Lumber	WPU081	1982=100	266.3	291.0	286.6	-1.5%	7.6%	36.5%
Thermoplastic resins	WPU0662	1982=100	263.9	285.6	283.1	-0.9%	7.3%	19.0%

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

The PPI shows prices, and it carries no figures on manufacturers’ costs or margins. So these indexes cannot say how much of the metal increase has reached furniture prices so far.

Imported furniture

BLS states in its technical notes that the PPI excludes imports. A project that buys imported seating faces a separate cost. Since October 14, 2025, imports of certain upholstered wooden products have carried a 25% tariff under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Proclamation 11000, published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2026, moved the scheduled increase to 30% from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, except for countries that reach an agreement with the United States on wood products.

How to use this number

Escalate a furniture budget with the index that matches the package. The example below takes a $1,000,000 furniture budget set in August 2025 and escalates it to August 2026 with each index. In Excel the formula is the budget times the new index divided by the old one, such as =1000000*(346.188/333.184) for the commercial furniture index. The results run from $1,021,900 with public building furniture to $1,071,500 with showcases, partitions, shelving and lockers, a difference of $49,600 on the same budget.

Example: a $1,000,000 furniture budget set in August 2025, escalated to August 2026 by each index (illustrative, rounded to the nearest $100)
Index used	FRED series	Budget, Aug 2025	Index, Aug 2025	Index, Aug 2026	Budget, Aug 2026	Added
Commercial furniture	WPU122	1000000	333.184	346.188	1039000	$39,000
Institutional furniture	PCU337127337127	1000000	225.527	236.922	1050500	$50,500
Restaurant, bar and cafeteria furniture	PCU3371273371278	1000000	204.342	213.228	1043500	$43,500
Office furniture, except wood	PCU337214337214	1000000	443.027	460.823	1040200	$40,200
Public building furniture	PCU3371273371275	1000000	354.178	361.933	1021900	$21,900
Showcases, partitions, shelving and lockers	PCU337215337215	1000000	230.309	246.769	1071500	$71,500

Name the series in any furniture escalation clause. Give the series ID, such as WPU122 or PCU337127337127, and the base month. Say whether the clause uses the first value BLS publishes or the value after BLS revises it, up to four months later, since the two can differ.
Ask for a quote on the package. The PPI measures what domestic producers receive and leaves out imports and taxes. For the price of a specific package, ask suppliers to quote it.

Revisions and caveats

August is preliminary. BLS says all PPIs can be revised for up to four months after they are first published, as late reports and corrections come in. The August release, published September 10, revised April through July, and every one of those months went up for commercial furniture. July moved to 344.389 from 344.083, and May moved to 341.722 from 340.934.

PPI for commercial furniture, values first published in the July release and revised in the August release
Month	Published Aug 13, 2026	Revised Sep 10, 2026	Revision
Apr 2026	339.647	339.854	0.21
May 2026	340.934	341.722	0.79
Jun 2026	343.011	343.432	0.42
Jul 2026	344.083	344.389	0.31

Source: alfred.stlouisfed.org

None of these indexes is seasonally adjusted, so compare each month with the same month a year earlier. The restaurant, bar and cafeteria index changes in steps. It held at 204.342 from July through September 2025, and since then it has changed only every two or three months, so its change in a single month carries little information. BLS will publish September data on October 15, 2026.

FF&E | Construction Metrics

Commercial furniture prices rose 3.9% in the year to August as steel rose 23%

What moved

Imported furniture

How to use this number

Revisions and caveats