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Wholesale prices rose sharply last month, coming in significantly higher than economists had expected. A surge in gasoline prices pushed the numbers higher.
The numbers could raise fears about inflation, though the weak economy will likely make it difficult for companies to pass higher wholesale prices on to customers.
Also, energy prices are traditionally very volatile and it remains to be seen what the longer-term trend for these will be. In August, so-called core prices, which leave out the least stable groups of prices, rose by a much more modest pace, though the result was still more than economists were predicting.
The U.S. Labor Department revealed that producer prices jumped 1.7 percent in August. This followed a drop of 0.9 percent in the previous month.
Economists had expected the measure to rise by 1.0 percent.
Higher energy prices were the main cause of August's advance, rising by 8.0 percent. Gas prices surged higher by 23 percent.
In July, energy prices were down 2.4 percent, with gasoline prices slipping by 10.2 percent.
Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy sectors, rose by 0.2 percent last month. This advance was a little sharper than the 0.1 percent increase that economists had projected.
Core prices had edged down by 0.1 percent in July.
On Wednesday, the government will release figures on consumer prices, a more closely-watched inflation measure that gauges retail prices. Economists expect the headline number to be up by 0.4 percent in August, with core prices predicted to rise by 0.1 percent.
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