November 18, 2011 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import and export prices down in October 2011

Import prices fell for the third time in five months in October, declining 0.6 percent for the month. The decrease matched a 0.6-percent decline in June, the largest one-month drop since the index fell 1.2 percent in June 2010.

1-month percent change in Import Price Index: October 2010-October 2011
[Chart data]

Fuel prices fell 1.3 percent in October, following declines of 0.7 percent in September and 2.1 percent in August. Despite the recent declines, fuel prices increased 33.8 percent for the year ended in October 2011; petroleum and natural gas prices advanced 36.0 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, over the past 12 months.

The price index for nonfuel imports declined 0.2 percent in October, the first monthly decrease in the index since a 0.3-percent drop in July 2010. Nonfuel import prices rose 4.9 percent for the year ended in October 2011.

Export prices fell 2.1 percent in October, the largest monthly decline since a 2.2-percent decrease in December 2008. The October decline followed advances of 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent the previous two months. Despite the October drop, overall export prices increased 6.3 percent over the past year.

1-month percent change in Export Price Index: October 2010-October 2011
[Chart data]

Agricultural prices decreased 6.5 percent in October after rising 1.9 percent in September and 1.6 percent in August. The October decline was led by 19.0-percent decreases for both soybeans and corn. Despite the recent decline, the price index for agricultural exports rose 11.5 percent for the year ended in October 2011.

Prices for nonagricultural exports declined 1.5 percent in October, the first monthly decrease since a 0.2-percent drop in July 2010, and the largest drop since a 1.9-percent decline in December 2008. The price index for nonagricultural exports increased 5.7 percent over the past 12 months.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. For more information, see "U.S. Imports and Export Price Indexes — October 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-1613.

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