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Import prices up 3.7 percent in year ending August 2018

September 20, 2018

Prices for U.S. imports advanced 3.7 percent from August 2017 to August 2018 and have not recorded a 12-month decline since October 2016.
Over-the-year percent change in U.S. import price indexes for selected categories of goods, August 2018
Category Percent change

Fuels & lubricants

 30.6

Paper & paper base stocks

 12.8

Unfinished metals related to durable goods

 8.0

Industrial supplies & materials excluding fuels

 6.4

Materials associated with nondurable supplies & materials

 6.4

Finished metals related to durable goods

 6.2

Industrial supplies & materials nondurable excluding petroleum

 6.2

Industrial supplies & materials, durable

 6.0

Industrial supplies & materials excluding petroleum

 6.0

Nonmetals related to durable goods

 4.0

Selected building materials

 3.4

Nondurables, manufactured consumer goods

 1.9

Electric generating equipment

 1.2

Transportation equipment excluding motor vehicles

 0.3

Nonelectrical machinery

 -0.1

Nonagricultural foods (fish, distilled beverages)

 -0.2

Nonmanufactured consumer goods

 -0.5

Durables, manufactured consumer goods

 -0.8

Agricultural foods, feeds & beverages, excluding distilled beverages

 -4.2

Over the year ending August 2018, import prices for fuels and lubricants increased 30.6 percent. Prices for petroleum increased 33.0 percent for the year ended in August, and prices for natural gas fell 11.7 percent. Prices for paper and paper base stocks increased 12.8 percent.

Over the year ending August 2018, prices for agricultural foods, feeds and beverages, excluding distilled beverages, decreased by 4.2 percent, while prices for durable manufactured consumer goods went down by 0.8 percent.

These data are from the International Price program. Import and export prices are subject to revision. To learn more, see "U.S. Import and Export Prices — August 2018.” See more charts on import and export price trends in Charts related to the latest “U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes” news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Import prices up 3.7 percent in year ending August 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/import-prices-up-3-point-7-percent-in-year-ending-august-2018.htm (visited April 19, 2024).

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