Import prices in December 2007

The U.S. Import Price Index was unchanged in December. A 0.3-percent price increase in nonpetroleum prices was offset by a 0.6-percent decline in the price index for petroleum.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prior to recording no change in December, the price index for overall imports rose in each of the past three months including a 3.3-percent jump in November.

Import prices rose 10.9 percent over 2007, the sixth consecutive year the index increased and the largest calendar-year advance since the index was first published in September 1982. The 2007 increase was driven by a sharp rise in petroleum prices and paralleled a drop in the value of the dollar. Petroleum prices rose 50.1 percent in 2007; the increase was the largest yearly advance since a 56.9-percent rise in 2002.

Nonpetroleum prices advanced 0.3 percent in December following increases of 0.7 percent in November and 0.6 percent in October. Prices for nonpetroleum imports rose 2.9 percent for the year after increasing 1.9 percent in 2006. The index rose for the sixth consecutive year and the 2007 increase was the largest since a 3.7-percent advance in 2004.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import price data are subject to revision. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes -- December 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 08-0045.