Import/Export Price Indexes

U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes

May 14, 2013
U.S. import prices fell 0.5 percent in April, following a 0.2 percent decrease in March. Lower prices for fuel and nonfuel imports contributed to the declines in each month. Prices for U.S. exports decreased 0.7 percent in April after a 0.5 percent decline in March.
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Current

• U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes (Current Month) (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service—Receive the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes news release by e-mail.
• Upcoming Release Dates for the rest of this calendar year.

Archived

• Archived News Releases

MXP Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Import/Export Price Indexes (International Price Program - IPP)

 

More Tools

• Series Report—Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.

• Locality of Origin Index Codes Prefixes - Looking for an industry level index by country or region? Use this as a guide to the database codes.

• Text files (FTP) - For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.
  • Import/Export Price Indexes

MXP Tables

• History Tables: Complete historical index information
• Index and Percent Change Tables: Indexes and percent changes for the four most recent months
• Percent Change Analysis Tables: Historical percent changes for one-month, three-month, and five separate 12-month periods
• U.S. Import Price Indexes: All Imports and All Imports Excluding Petroleum, 12-month changes

Overview Publications

• Overview Pamphlet (PDF)
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 15, International Price Indexes
• Addendum

Regional Publications

• Georgia Export Highlights (PDF)
• Texas Export Highlights (PDF)

Industry Publications

• Apparel Industry (PDF)
• Chemical Industry (PDF)
• Meat Industry (PDF)
• Metal Industry (PDF)
• Pharmaceutical Industry (PDF)
• Semiconductor Industry (PDF)

Fact Sheets

Measuring Price Change in the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes for:

• Air Freight (HTML) (PDF)
• Air Passenger Fares (HTML) (PDF)
• Base and Precious Metals and Diamonds (HTML) (PDF)
• Crude Oil, Gasoline, and Fuel Oil (HTML) (PDF)
• Grains (HTML) (PDF)
• Inbound Crude Oil Tanker Freight (HTML) (PDF)
• Inbound Ocean Liner Freight (HTML) (PDF)
• Export Postsecondary Education (HTML) (PDF)
• Export Travel and Tourism (HTML) (PDF)

Other Publications

• Technical Note
• Explanation of Import and Export Series Codes

In order to help users assess the precision of the U.S. import and export price index series, BLS is now providing variance estimates for these figures. These estimates include values from 2011 and 2012. The plan in the future is to release results on an annual basis in May. Currently, the data are only calculated for the all-import and all-export series. In the future, however, the published variance estimates will also be made available at a more detailed level.

Report

• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Import and Export Price Indexes, January–December 2011 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Import and Export Price Indexes, January–December 2012 (PDF)

OECD Purchasing Power Parities

• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
• Prices and Purchasing Power Parities
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Eurostat-OECD Methodological Manual
• Purchasing Power Parities Data (PPP)

World Bank International Comparisons Program

• International Comparisons Program (ICP) 2011
• Extrapolating PPPs and Comparing ICP Benchmark Results

Penn Tables

• Center for International Comparisons
• Penn World Tables

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the U.S. Import and U.S. Export price indexes?
2. How are the Import/Export Price Indexes used?
3. What goods and services do the Import/Export Price Indexes measure?
4. What classification systems are used to aggregate Import/Export price indexes?
5. How are Import/Export Price Index data obtained?
6. What prices are used to calculate the Import/Export Price Indexes?
7. Are adjustments made for changes in the price or quality of a measured item?
8. How are the Import/Export Price Indexes weighted?
9. How are the Import/Export Price Indexes constructed?
10. How are the Import/Export Price Indexes interpreted?
11. When are Import/Export Price Index data available?
12. Are there limitations to the Import/Export Price Indexes?
13. How does the International Price Program handle survey items that are priced in foreign currencies?
14. How do unit value indexes differ from the Import/Export Price Indexes?
15. Does the Bureau of Labor Statistics provide data for countries other than the U.S.?
16. Where can I obtain international price information?
17. Where can I obtain more information about the Import/Export Price Indexes?
    

All MXP FAQs »

MXP Notices

NONE

BLS Programs

• International Labor Comparisons—Comparative information by country on productivity and unit labor costs; compensation; labor force, employment, and unemployment; and consumer prices.

Non-BLS Programs

• Useful Links, Statistical Agencies & Organizations

Contacts

Technical Assistance:

• Telephone: (202) 691-7101
• E-Mail: Contact us
• Fax (202) 691-7179
• Mail:

Division of International Prices
Bureau of Labor Statistics
2 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.
Rm. 3955
Washington, DC 20212

Media Contact:

• Telephone: (202) 691-5902

Regional Office Assistance:

Information about the Import/Export Price Indexes and other BLS data may be obtained from any of the eight BLS Regional Economic Analysis and Information offices.

BLS Email Subscription Service:

Subscribers to the BLS Email Subscription Service can receive the Import/Export Price Indexes and other BLS news releases; data summaries; and new publication notifications by email. More information about this free service may be found on the BLS News Service Subscription Page.