Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                                      USDL-18-0544
8:30 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, April 12, 2018

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                               U.S. IMPORT AND EXPORT PRICE INDEXES - MARCH 2018                                

U.S. import prices recorded no change in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, 
following a 0.3-percent rise in February. Higher nonfuel prices offset declining prices for imported fuel in 
March. Prices for U.S. exports advanced 0.3 percent in March, after rising 0.2 percent the previous month.

Imports

All Imports: Import prices recorded no change in March following rises of 0.3 percent in February and 0.8 
percent in January. The index has not declined on a monthly basis since decreasing 0.2 percent in July 2017. 
Prices for U.S. imports rose 3.6 percent between March 2017 and March 2018. The last 12-month decline in 
import prices was a 0.2-percent drop for the period ended October 2016.

Fuel Imports: Fuel prices fell for the second consecutive month, declining 1.6 percent in March following a 
1.0-percent drop in February. The March decrease was the largest monthly decline since the index dropped 
3.6 percent in June 2017. Lower prices for both petroleum and natural gas drove the decline in fuel prices. 
Prices for imported petroleum declined 1.3 percent and natural gas fell 9.5 percent. Despite the decrease in 
March, fuel import prices advanced 18.7 percent between March 2017 and March 2018. The price index for 
petroleum imports rose 19.4 percent over the past 12 months. Prices for imported natural gas increased 20.0 
percent over the same period.

All Imports Excluding Fuel: Prices for nonfuel imports rose 0.2 percent in March, following increases of 
0.5 percent in February and January. Contributing to the March advance were higher import prices for 
nonfuel industrial supplies and materials; capital goods; and foods, feeds, and beverages, which more than 
offset declining prices for automotive vehicles and consumer goods. Nonfuel import prices advanced 2.1 
percent on a 12-month basis for the second consecutive month, the largest over-the-year increases since a 
2.4-percent advance in February 2012. An 8.0-percent rise in nonfuel industrial supplies and materials 
prices drove the 12-month advance in March.

Table A. Percent change in Import and Export Price Indexes, selected categories

Exports

All Exports: Prices for U.S. exports rose for the ninth consecutive month in March, advancing 0.3 percent. 
Increasing prices for agricultural exports drove the monthly advance, more than offsetting lower 
nonagricultural export prices. U.S. export prices increased 3.4 percent over the 12-month period ended in 
March and have not recorded an over-the-year drop since a 0.2-percent decline in November 2016.

Agricultural Exports: The price index for agricultural exports advanced 3.4 percent in March following a 
0.6-percent rise in February. The March increase is the largest monthly advance since agricultural export 
prices rose 4.8 percent in August 2012. Higher prices for soybeans and wheat contributed to the monthly 
advance, increasing 7.8 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. The price index for agricultural exports rose 
3.0 percent over the past 12 months, driven by a 6.5-percent increase in meat prices.

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Nonagricultural export prices ticked down 0.1 percent in March, after 
rising 0.2 percent in February and 0.9 percent in January. Declining prices for nonagricultural industrial 
supplies and materials more than offset increases in capital goods and automotive vehicles export prices. 
Prices for nonagricultural exports advanced 3.4 percent between March 2017 and March 2018, as the price 
indexes for nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, consumer goods, and 
automotive vehicles all increased.

                                           SELECTED MARCH HIGHLIGHTS                                            

Import Prices

Imports by Locality of Origin: Import prices from China rose for the second consecutive month in March, 
edging up 0.1 percent. The price index for imports from China increased 0.2 percent over the past 12 
months and has not recorded a 12-month decrease since December 2017. Prices for imports from Japan rose 
0.2 percent in March following increases of 0.2 percent in February and 0.5 percent in January. Despite the 
advance in March, the price index for imports from Japan edged down 0.1 percent over the past 12 months. 
The price index for imports from the European Union rose 0.1 percent in March and import prices from 
Mexico advanced 0.2 percent, after decreasing 0.5 percent the previous month. In contrast, prices for 
imports from Canada fell 0.2 percent in March.

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Import prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials 
increased 1.0 percent in March, after a 0.8-percent rise in February. Higher prices for iron and steel mill 
products and lumber each contributed to the March advance, rising 4.0 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Finished Goods: Major finished goods prices were mixed in March. Import capital goods prices increased 
0.2 percent, driven by a 0.4-percent increase in prices for computers, peripherals, and semiconductors. In 
contrast, the price index for automotive vehicles decreased 0.2 percent and import prices for consumer 
goods declined 0.1 percent in March.

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: The import price index for foods, feeds, and beverages rose 0.6 percent in 
March following increases of 1.0 percent in February and 0.7 percent in January. Higher prices for 
vegetables drove the monthly advance, more than offsetting lower fruit prices.

Transportation Services: Import air passenger fares decreased 6.5 percent in March, after a 0.9-percent 
rise in February. In March, a 14.6-percent drop in European fares more than offset increases of 2.3 percent 
in Latin American/Caribbean fares and 0.1 percent in Asian fares. Despite the monthly decrease, import air 
passenger fares advanced 1.5 percent over the past year. Prices for import air freight recorded no change in 
March and rose 11.4 percent over the past 12 months.

Export Prices

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials 
prices fell 0.5 percent in March, after rising 0.2 percent the previous month. Lower fuel prices drove the 
decrease, more than offsetting increasing prices for chemicals and iron and steel products.

Finished Goods: Prices for the major finished goods categories were mostly up in March. Capital goods 
prices and automotive vehicles prices each ticked up 0.1 percent, and consumer goods prices recorded no 
change following a 0.4-percent rise in February. 

Transportation Services: Export air passenger fares rose 4.2 percent in March following a 7.9-percent 
decrease the previous month. The March increase was primarily driven by higher European and Asian fares. 
The price index for export air passenger fares advanced 2.4 percent between March 2017 and March 2018. 
Export air freight prices increased 4.3 percent in March and 4.4 percent over the past year. Prices for export 
air freight have not recorded a 12-month decline since falling 1.1 percent for the year ended February 2017.
		
Import and Export Price Index data for April are scheduled for release on Friday, May 11, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. 
(EDT).

                                                TECHNICAL NOTE                                                

Import and Export Merchandise and Services Price Indexes - All indexes use a modified Laspeyres 
formula and are not seasonally adjusted. Price indexes are reweighted annually, with a 2-year lag in the 
weights. Published series use a base year of 2000=100 where possible. More detailed index series and 
additional information may be obtained at www.bls.gov/mxp or by calling (202) 691-7101.

Merchandise Goods Classification Systems - The merchandise price indexes are published using three 
classification systems. Items are classified by end use according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis 
Classification System, by industry according to the North American Industry Classification System 
(NAICS), and by product category according to the Harmonized System (HS). While classification by 
end use and product category are self-explanatory, some notes are in order for classifying items by 
industry. In the NAICS imports and exports tables, items are classified by output industry, not input 
industry. As an example, NAICS import index 326 (plastics and rubber products manufacturing) include 
outputs such as manufactured plastic rather than inputs such as petroleum. The NAICS classification 
structure also matches the classification system used by the Producer Price Index (PPI) to produce the 
NAICS primary products indexes.

Import Price Indexes - Products have been classified by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States Annotated (TSUSA). Import prices are based on U.S. dollar prices paid by the U.S. importer. The 
prices are generally either "free on board" (f.o.b.) foreign port or "cost, insurance, and freight" (c.i.f.) 
U.S. port transaction prices, depending on the practices of the individual industry. The index for crude 
petroleum is calculated from data collected by the U.S. Department of Energy.  

Export Price Indexes - Products have been classified by the Harmonized Schedule B classification 
system of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The prices used are generally either "free alongside ship" 
(f.a.s.) factory or "free on board" (f.o.b.) transaction prices, depending on the practices of the individual 
industry. Prices used in the grain index, excluding rice, are obtained from the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.

Services Price Indexes - Starting in September 2008, the import air passenger fares indexes represent 
changes in the average revenue per passenger received by foreign carriers from U.S. residents and are 
calculated from data obtained from an airline consulting service. These data include tickets sold by 
travel agencies and travel websites. Tickets sold directly by the airlines are excluded, as are frequent 
flyer tickets generally. Starting in January 2008, the export air passenger fares indexes represent changes 
in the average revenue per passenger received by U.S. carriers from foreign residents and are calculated 
from data collected directly from airlines. These data include frequent flyer tickets and those sold by 
consolidators. Taxes and fees are included in the import air passenger fares indexes and excluded from 
the export air passenger fares indexes. The air freight indexes are calculated from data collected directly 
from airlines. These data exclude mail and passenger baggage. The scope of the service being priced is 
the movement of freight from airport to airport only, and does not include any ground transportation or 
port service. The air freight indexes are presented using two definitions: balance of payments (which 
represent transactions between U.S. and foreign residents) and international (which represent 
transactions inbound to and outbound from the U.S.). Fact sheets specifying detailed information for 
each services industry are available at www.bls.gov/mxp under "MXP Publications."

Import Indexes by Locality of Origin - Prices used in these indexes are a subset of the data collected 
for the import price indexes. Beginning with January 2002, the indexes are defined by locality of origin 
using a nomenclature based upon the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). 
Nonmanufactured goods are defined as NAICS 11 and 21, and manufactured goods are defined as 
NAICS 31-33. 

Relative Importance - A relative importance is a specific index's price-updated value share (expressed 
as a percentage) of overall imports or exports at a specific point in time. Relative importance values are 
affected by the trade weights at the point indexes are reweighted and index changes relative to other 
indexes since the reweight point. If an index is rising in value relative to other indexes over time, the 
relative importance will increase as well. 
 
Revision Policy - To reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents, monthly data 
may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication. After 3 months, no further data 
revisions take place. For example, data first published in the January release will be subject to revision 
in the releases for February, March, and April.

Uses of the Data - The primary use of the indexes is to deflate trade statistics, notably the foreign trade 
sector of the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) constructed by the Department of 
Commerce. Other published indexes are useful for general market analysis. For trade in international 
services, balance of payments indexes are used for deflating NIPA, while international indexes are more 
appropriate for market analysis. Merchandise and services indexes also can be used to study U.S. 
competitiveness and to compute price elasticities, and the merchandise import indexes by country or 
region of origin are useful in terms of trade analysis.

Email Subscription - The U.S. import and export price indexes news release is available through an 
email subscription service at www.bls.gov/bls/list.htm. 
 
Additional Information - More detailed data are available on the Import/Export Price Indexes home 
page at www.bls.gov/mxp. For import and export price indexes data requests, send an email to 
mxpinfo@bls.gov.   

Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  
Voice phone: (202)-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-(800)-877-8339.