Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until				USDL-18-0998
8:30 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, June 14, 2018

Technical information: (202) 691-7101 * MXPinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/mxp
Media contact:	       (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov


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

(NOTE: A problem occurred with the calculation of the U.S. export air passenger fares indexes that 
were released with the June 14, 2018 release of the May U.S Import and Export Price Indexes. The 
data have been temporarily removed from the BLS website and table 8 in the release and corrected 
data will be issued with the June release on July 13, 2018.) 

Prices for U.S. imports increased 0.6 percent for the second consecutive month in May, the U.S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics reported today. Rising fuel and nonfuel prices contributed to the advances in both months. 
U.S. export prices rose 0.6 percent for the second consecutive month in May. 


Imports

All Imports: Import prices increased 0.6 percent in May, continuing the upward trend that began in August 
2017. The May advance followed a 0.6-percent rise the previous month. The price index for overall imports 
increased 4.3 percent for the year ended in May, the largest 12-month advance since the index rose 4.7 
percent in February 2017. The May over-the-year advance was largely driven by higher fuel prices although 
nonfuel prices also increased over the past year. 

Fuel Imports: Import fuel prices rose 4.9 percent in May, after a 4.1-percent advance in April. The May 
rise was the largest monthly increase since the index rose 9.8 percent in November 2017. In May, the 
advance in fuel prices was led by a 5.9-percent increase in petroleum prices which more than offset a 19.5-
percent drop in natural gas prices. Prices for import fuel increased 28.6 percent over the past 12 months, 
driven by a 31.9-percent rise in petroleum prices. In contrast, natural gas prices fell 18.5 percent over the 
past year.   

All Imports Excluding Fuel: Nonfuel import prices increased 0.2 percent for the second consecutive 
month in May and have not recorded a monthly decline since the index decreased 0.2 percent in December 
2017. The May advance was driven by higher prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials; consumer 
goods; and foods, feeds, and beverages. The price indexes for capital goods and automotive vehicles both 
fell in May. Nonfuel prices advanced 1.9 percent over the past year, primarily led by higher prices for 
nonfuel industrial supplies and materials. 


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

Exports 

All Exports: Prices for U.S. exports rose 0.6 percent for the second consecutive month in May, led by 
higher prices for both agricultural and nonagricultural exports. Export prices have not recorded a monthly 
decline since the index edged down 0.1 percent in June 2017. The price index for overall exports advanced 
4.9 percent between May 2017 and May 2018, the largest 12-month increase since the index rose 6.3 
percent in October 2011. 

Agricultural Exports: The price index for agricultural exports advanced 1.6 percent in May following a 
1.2-percent decline the previous month. The May increase was driven by a 10.1-percent advance in wheat 
prices, a 4.4-percent rise in corn prices, and a 1.8-percent increase in soybean prices. Prices for agricultural 
exports also rose over the past 12 months, advancing 4.9 percent.  

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Nonagricultural export prices advanced 0.5 percent in May and have 
not recorded a monthly drop since the index fell 0.1 percent in October 2017. The increase was driven by 
higher prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials, although rising prices for capital goods 
and automotive vehicles also contributed to the May rise. Prices for overall nonagricultural exports 
increased 4.9 percent for the year ended in May. 


                                          SELECTED MAY HIGHLIGHTS

Import Prices

Imports by Locality of Origin: Prices for imports from China ticked up 0.1 percent in May, after falling 
0.1 percent the previous month. Import prices from China advanced 0.3 percent over the past 12 months, the 
largest over-the-year increase since the index rose 0.3 percent in July 2014. The price index for imports 
from Japan ticked up 0.1 percent in May, the same advance as recorded in April. Prices for imports from 
Japan increased 0.2 percent over the past year. Import prices from Canada, the European Union, and Mexico 
all rose in May, led in part by rising fuel prices. Import prices from Canada increased 1.9 percent, from the 
European Union 0.4 percent, and from Mexico 0.3 percent. 

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonfuel industrial supplies and materials prices rose 0.8 
percent in May following a 0.6-percent advance the previous month. In May, higher prices for metals and 
selected building materials more than offset lower chemicals prices.  

Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mixed in May. Prices for capital goods and automotive 
vehicles each edged down 0.1 percent. The decline in capital goods prices was the first monthly drop since a 
0.1-percent decrease in November 2017. In contrast, prices for consumer goods ticked up 0.1 percent, led by 
higher prices for medicinal, dental, and pharmaceutical materials.  

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Foods, feeds, and beverages prices increased 0.4 percent in May, after 
falling 0.3 percent in April. Rising prices for fruit and grains were the largest contributors to the May 
advance. 

Transportation Services: Import air passenger fares declined 2.5 percent in May following a 2.8-percent 
rise in April. The May decrease was driven by lower European and Latin American/Caribbean fares which 
more than offset rising Asian fares. Despite the May decrease, import air passenger fares rose 1.2 percent 
over the past 12 months. The price index for import air freight advanced 1.6 percent in May and 18.2 
percent over the past year.  


Export Prices

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: The price index for nonagricultural industrial 
supplies and materials advanced 1.6 percent in May, after rising 1.3 percent in April. Both increases were 
led by advancing fuel prices which rose 4.6 percent in May and 3.4 percent the previous month. 

Finished Goods: Export finished goods prices recorded little movement in May. Capital goods prices ticked 
up 0.1 percent following a 0.6-percent rise in April. Prices for capital goods have not recorded a monthly 
decline since the index edged down 0.1 percent in October 2016. The price index for export automotive 
vehicles also rose 0.1 percent in May. In contrast, consumer goods prices fell 0.1 percent.  

Transportation Services: Prices for export air freight rose 0.7 percent in May and 3.0 percent over the past 
12 months. 

Import and Export Price Index data for June are scheduled for release on Friday, July 13, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. 
(EDT).


                        New Locality of Destination and Terms of Trade Data 

Beginning with the August news release on September 14, the BLS will introduce two new data series. 
Locality of Destination price indexes will measure export prices based on the country or region where items 
are exported. Terms of Trade indexes are based on the country or region and measure the relative price of 
imports in terms of export prices and are defined as the all-export price index divided by the respective all-
import price index. For more information on Terms of Trade indexes, please see "U.S. Import and Export 
Prices and the Terms of Trade" at www.bls.gov/opub/btn/archive/us-import-and-export-price-indexes-and-
the-terms-of-trade.pdf. 

The Locality of Destination price indexes will be published at the all-export level and also include a 
breakdown by manufacturing industries and nonmanufacturing industries where possible. The countries and 
regions for which indexes will be published include the Industrialized Countries, the European Union, Latin 
America, the Pacific Rim, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, and Mexico. Indexes by manufacturing 
industries and nonmanufacturing industries will be available for all countries and regions except Canada and 
Germany. 

Terms of Trade indexes will be available for all countries and regions where both the import Locality of 
Origin index and the export Locality of Destination index are published. These include the Industrialized 
Countries, the European Union, Latin America, the Pacific Rim, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, and 
Mexico.

The data series for both the Locality of Destination price indexes and the Terms of Trade indexes will begin 
in December 2017 when the indexes are first published on September 14.

In addition to the new indexes, the numbering of the tables in the Import and Export Price Index news 
release will be changing. Tables 1 through 7 will remain the same, and the new Locality of Destination data 
will be in table 8 and the new Terms of Trade data will be in table 9. The current table for Selected 
Transportation Services will change from table 8 to table 10. Other formatting changes to the text of the 
news release will be made. An example of the new format and tables will be provided before the September 
14 release date.  

                                            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 - Indexes for import and export air passenger fares calculate changes in the 
average revenue received per passenger by foreign carriers from U.S. residents and by U.S. carriers from 
foreign residents, respectively. Data are obtained from an airline consulting service and report on tickets 
sold by travel agencies, travel websites, and tickets sold directly by the airlines. Taxes and fees are 
included in both the import and export air passenger fares indexes. Import air passenger fares data have 
used the airline consulting service source since September 2008. Before April 2018, the export air 
passenger fares data were collected directly by BLS from U.S. airlines. 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.