Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                                      USDL-19-1475
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                                U.S. IMPORT AND EXPORT PRICE INDEXES - JULY 2019                                

Prices for U.S. imports increased 0.2 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, 
following a 1.1-percent decline the previous month. In July, rising fuel prices more than offset lower 
nonfuel prices. The price index for U.S. exports advanced 0.2 percent in July, after falling 0.6 percent in 
June and 0.3 percent in May.  

Imports

The price index for U.S. imports rose 0.2 percent in July, after a decrease of 1.1 percent the previous month. 
Prior to June, prices for U.S. imports advanced in each of the first 5 months of 2019. Despite the increases, 
import prices declined 1.8 percent over the past year. (See table 1.) 

Fuel Imports: Prices for import fuel advanced 1.8 percent in July following a 7.3-percent drop in June. 
Import fuel prices previously increased 30.1 percent for the first 5 months of 2019. In July, higher petroleum 
prices more than offset lower natural gas prices. The price index for import petroleum rose 1.9 percent, after 
decreasing 7.0 percent the previous month. Overall fuel prices and petroleum prices both fell over the past 
year, declining 5.5 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively. Natural gas prices fell 1.4 percent in July, after 
declining 59.6 percent the previous 3 months. The recent decreases drove natural gas prices down 22.1 
percent over the past 12 months.      

All Imports Excluding Fuel: The price index for nonfuel imports edged down 0.1 percent in July following 
0.3-percent decreases in each of the previous 2 months. The July decline was driven by lower prices for 
automotive vehicles; foods, feeds, and beverages; and capital goods. Those decreases were partially offset 
by rising prices for consumer goods and nonfuel industrial supplies and materials. Prices for nonfuel imports 
fell 1.3 percent from July 2018 to July 2019, led by declining prices for industrial supplies and materials and 
capital goods.   

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonfuel industrial supplies and materials prices rose 0.2 percent 
in July, after declining 0.7 percent the previous month. In July, a 1.0-percent increase in unfinished metals 
prices more than offset lower prices for chemicals and paper. 
	
Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mixed in July. Consumer goods prices rose 0.2 percent, the 
first monthly advance since the index increased 0.3 percent in February. The July advance was driven by a 
1.0-percent rise in the price index for medicinal, dental, and pharmaceutical materials. In contrast, 
automotive vehicle prices and prices for capital goods both fell in July. Automotive vehicle prices declined 
0.3 percent, after recording no change in June and May; prices for capital goods edged down 0.1 percent 
following a 0.2-percent drop in June.    

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Prices for import foods, feeds, and beverages fell 0.5 percent in July, after 
decreasing 1.4 percent in June. The July decline was driven by a 5.8-percent drop in vegetable prices.  

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

Exports 

U.S. export prices increased 0.2 percent in July, after decreasing 0.9 percent over the previous 2 months. 
Higher agricultural and nonagricultural prices both contributed to the advance. Despite the July increase, 
prices for U.S. exports continued to decrease on a 12-month basis, declining 0.9 percent from July 2018 to 
July 2019. (See table 2.)

Agricultural Exports: Agricultural export prices rose 0.4 percent in July following a 2.5-percent increase 
in June. The July advance was led by higher prices for soybeans, other animal feeds, nuts, and vegetables 
which more than offset lower prices for fruit and wheat. Prices for agricultural exports rose 3.7 percent over 
the past year, the largest 12-month increase since the index advanced 5.3 percent from June 2017 to June 
2018.    

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: The price index for nonagricultural exports rose 0.2 percent in July, 
after a 1.0-percent decrease in June and a 0.2-percent drop in May. The July increase was primarily led by 
higher nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials prices, though rising consumer goods prices also 
contributed to the advance. In contrast, prices for capital goods and automotive vehicles declined. 
Nonagricultural export prices decreased 1.5 percent for the year ended in July, driven by falling prices for 
nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials which more than offset advancing finished goods prices.     

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials prices 
increased 0.7 percent in July following a 2.8-percent drop the previous month. The upturn was driven by a 
2.3-percent advance in export fuel prices which previously declined 7.3 percent in June.   

Finished Goods: Export finished goods prices were mixed in July. The price indexes for capital goods and 
automotive vehicles each edged down 0.1 percent, after recording no change in June. Prices for consumer 
goods increased 0.2 percent in July, driven by a 1.1-percent advance in medicinal, dental, and 
pharmaceutical materials prices.

Measures of Import and Export Prices by Locality

Imports by Locality of Origin: Import prices from China edged down 0.1 percent in July, after decreasing 
0.2 percent in June. Prices for imports from China have not recorded a monthly advance since ticking up 0.1 
percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China declined 1.6 percent on a 12-month basis for 
the second consecutive month in July. The last time the index fell more than 1.6 percent was a 1.9-percent 
drop in January 2017. Import prices from Japan recorded no change in July following a 0.1-percent decrease 
the previous month. Prices for imports from Japan edged down 0.1 percent for the year ended in July. 
Import prices from Mexico declined 0.2 percent in July, after falling 1.3 percent in June. In contrast, the 
price indexes for imports from Canada and the European Union both advanced 0.2 percent in July. Import 
prices from Canada previously fell 3.3 percent in June, and prices for imports from the European Union 
decreased 0.6 percent over the same period. (See table 7.)

Exports by Locality of Destination: Export prices to China rose 0.6 percent in July, after declining 0.6 
percent the previous month. Despite the July advance, prices for exports to China decreased 1.7 percent over 
the past 12 months. The price index for exports to Japan rose 1.0 percent in July following a 0.1-percent 
decline in June. The index increased 0.2 percent from July 2018 to July 2019. Export prices to the European 
Union rose 0.8 percent, the largest monthly advance since the index increased 1.9 percent in January 2018. 
Prices for exports to Canada and Mexico also rose in July, advancing 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, 
respectively. (See table 8.)

Terms of Trade Indexes: Terms of Trade indexes are based on country, region, or grouping and measure 
the change in the purchasing power of exports relative to imports. The U.S. terms of trade with China 
increased 0.7 percent in July following a 0.4-percent decline the previous month. In July, the increase 
resulted from both a rise in export prices to China and a decline in import prices from China. U.S. terms of 
trade with China edged down 0.1 percent for the year ended in July. The index for U.S. terms of trade with 
Japan advanced 1.0 percent in July, after recording no change in June. U.S. terms of trade with Japan rose 
0.3 percent over the past 12 months. The U.S. terms of trade with the European Union increased 0.6 percent 
in July following a 0.2-percent decline in June and a 0.4-percent drop in May. U.S. terms of trade with 
Mexico and Canada also advanced in July, rising 0.8 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. (See table 9.)

Import and Export Services

Imports: Import air passenger fares declined 9.9 percent in July following a 6.7-percent increase in June 
and a 6.9-percent advance in May. The decrease was the largest 1-month drop since the index fell 10.6 
percent in August 2017. In July, the decline was led by a 12.7-percent decrease in European fares and an 
11.8-percent drop in Asian fares. Import air passenger fares fell 6.6 percent over the past 12 months. The 
price index for import air freight fell 1.8 percent in July, after edging down 0.1 percent in June. The July 
drop was the largest monthly decrease since the index fell 6.1 percent in February. The price index for 
import air freight declined 6.6 percent over the past 12 months. (See table 10.)

Exports: Export air passenger fares increased 3.3 percent in July, after rising 4.0 percent in June. Higher 
Latin American/Caribbean, European, and Asian fares all contributed to the advance in July. Despite the 
recent increases, export air passenger fares declined 1.4 percent from July 2018 to July 2019. Export air 
freight prices rose 0.6 percent in July, the largest monthly advance since the index increased 0.6 percent in 
October 2018. Prices for export air freight also advanced over the past year, rising 1.4 percent.    
		
Import and Export Price Index data for August are scheduled for release on Friday, September 13, 2019 at 
8:30 a.m. (EDT).

                                                TECHNICAL NOTE                                                

Import and Export Goods 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) 
includes 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 Goods Indexes - Items are 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 Goods Indexes - Items are 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 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 represents transactions between U.S. and foreign residents) and 
international (which represents transactions inbound to and outbound from the United States.) Fact 
sheets specifying detailed information for each services industry are available at www.bls.gov/mxp 
under "MXP Publications."

Import Price Indexes by Locality of Origin - Prices used in these indexes are a subset of the data 
collected for the import price indexes. The indexes are specific to a country, region, or grouping and, 
beginning with January 2002, are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 
covering goods-producing industries. Nonmanufactured goods are defined as NAICS 11 and 21, and 
manufactured goods are defined as NAICS 31-33. 

Export Price Indexes by Locality of Destination - Prices used in these indexes are a subset of the data 
collected for the export price indexes. The indexes are specific to a country, region, or grouping and are 
based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) covering goods-producing 
industries. Nonmanufactured goods are defined as NAICS 11 and 21, and manufactured goods are 
defined as NAICS 31-33. 

Terms of Trade Indexes - Terms of trade indexes measure the relative price of exports in terms of 
import prices for a specific country, region, or grouping. The indexes are calculated as one country, 
region, or grouping's all-export goods price index divided by the corresponding all-import goods price 
index on a scale of 100. 
   
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.

Rounding Policy - Index values are rounded to the tenth decimal place after being calculated. All 
percent changes are then derived from the rounded index values and subsequently rounded to the tenth 
decimal place.

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. 

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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.   
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