Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) price support loan activity has important implications for U.S. Treasury outlays. In 1977, CCC purchases of agricultural commodities (the vast majority of which were in the form of support loans) amounted to $3.9 billion. In other words, roughly 25 percent of federal purchases of nondurable goods, or 2.7 percent of all federal purchases, arose from CCC commodity transactions. In 1976, CCC purchases were $900 million, only about 9.5 percent of federal purchases of nondurables and 0.7 percent of total federal purchases of goods and services. Furthermore, the quarterly pattern of the series is extremely volatile, with swings often exceeding $500 million in a single quarter. In the six years between 1972 and 1977, nominal CCC purchases were negative in each of the first three years and positive in the last three.