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Today’s rate, growth year-to-date, and change vs Jan 1 one and five years back — computed live from real exchange-rate data for each country covered in Contract Manufacturing / Country Analysis.
Today’s index value, growth year-to-date, and change vs Jan 1 one and five years back pulled live from FRED (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index series). Each label links to the full FRED chart.
IC&T Manufacturing tracks six FRED Producer Price Index series that directly affect the landed cost of parts sourced globally. Here is what each series measures, which part programs it affects, and the FRED series ID for direct data access.
Tracks overall U.S. manufacturing-sector producer prices, a composite inflation indicator for the full manufacturing supply chain. A rising Total Mfg PPI generally precedes upstream cost pressure across all part categories. ICT uses this as a leading indicator for supplier pricing review cycles.
Tracks U.S. domestic crude oil producer prices, relevant to resin and polymer feedstock pricing (most engineered plastics are petroleum derivatives), freight cost (bunker fuel), and general energy cost across manufacturing operations. Injection-molded parts track this series closely.
Tracks corrugated container and packaging board producer prices. Relevant to export packaging cost for all shipped programs significant for high-volume, low-unit-cost parts (fasteners, hardware, stampings) where packaging cost is a meaningful percentage of total freight cost.
Tracks wood and lumber product producer prices relevant to CPG retail, packaging, and agricultural equipment programs where wood-content assemblies or crating are in the supply chain. Also tracks palletization cost for large-format exports.
Tracks aluminum mill product producer prices directly relevant to sand casting, gravity casting, HPDC, and machined aluminum programs. Aluminum is the primary alloy for automotive OEM castings, orthopedic trial components, and aerospace-adjacent parts. A 10% aluminum PPI move typically drives 4–5% unit cost pressure on aluminum-intensive programs.
Tracks steel and iron products producer prices, relevant to CNC machined parts, structural fabrications, forgings, gears, and fasteners in carbon and alloy steel grades. Also relevant to Section 232 steel tariff exposure modeling (25–50% additional tariff layered on top of base import cost).
Exchange rates directly affect the USD landed cost of parts sourced from any non-USD country. When the Indian Rupee (INR) depreciates against the USD – more rupees per dollar , India-sourced parts become relatively cheaper in dollar terms at the supplier’s quoted INR price. When the RMB strengthens, Chinese parts become more expensive in dollar terms, compounding an already high tariff exposure (75%+).
FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s public database of U.S. economic data series, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index (PPI). ICT Manufacturing uses FRED PPI series to track real-time material cost changes for aluminum, steel/iron, crude oil, cardboard, wood/lumber, and total manufacturing.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures the average change in prices received by domestic producers for their output, it is an upstream inflation indicator for raw materials and intermediate goods. When aluminum PPI rises 10%, aluminum producers are charging 10% more for primary aluminum, which flows into casting, machined part, and sheet metal program costs over 1–3 production cycles.
ICT Manufacturing tracks five currency pairs against USD for its primary sourcing countries: INR/USD (India – castings, forgings, CNC machining, gears, fasteners), RMB/USD (China – HPDC, injection molding, electronics), THB/USD (Thailand – automotive stampings, electrical assemblies), IDR/USD (Indonesia – structural steel, large fabrications), and MYR/USD (Malaysia – medical/orthopedic, precision CNC).
ICT Manufacturing feeds live FX and PPI data into landed cost models for every active program, monitoring whether cumulative movement is creating a gap between quoted cost and actual invoice cost. When FX moves more than ~4% adverse since quote date, or PPI moves more than ~6% on a primary material, ICT flags the program, models the landed cost impact, and initiates a supplier discussion or hedging recommendation before the gap hits a purchase order invoice.
Submit an RFQ and ICT Manufacturing will build a landed cost model using current FX rates and PPI data for your specific part and country.
