Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                                      USDL-18-1314
8:30 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, August 14, 2018

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Media contact:         (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov


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

Prices for U.S. imports recorded no change in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, after 
edging down 0.1 percent in June. Falling nonfuel prices in July offset higher fuel prices. U.S. export prices 
decreased 0.5 percent in July following a 0.2-percent increase in June. The July decline was driven by a 
drop in agricultural export prices. 

Imports

All Imports: Import prices recorded no change in July, after falling 0.1 percent in June and rising 0.9 
percent in May. U.S. import prices increased 4.8 percent for the year ended in July, the largest 12-month 
advance since the index rose 5.1 percent in February 2012. Import prices have not fallen on an over-the-year 
basis since the index fell 0.2 percent in October 2016.

Fuel Imports: Prices for import fuel advanced 1.6 percent in July following a 1.3-percent increase in June 
and a 6.5-percent rise in May. In July, increasing prices for petroleum and natural gas contributed to the rise 
in fuel prices. Petroleum prices advanced 0.9 percent in July, after rising 1.4 percent in June and 7.8 percent 
in May. Prices for natural gas increased 36.7 percent in July, the first monthly advance since January and 
the largest since the index rose 43.2 percent in November 2006. The price index for fuels increased 40.7 
percent between July 2017 and July 2018, the largest over-the-year advance since the index rose 50.9 
percent in March 2017. The 12-month rise in import fuel prices was led by a 43.6-percent advance in 
petroleum prices which more than offset a 0.5-percent decline in natural gas prices. 

All Imports Excluding Fuel: Nonfuel import prices fell 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month in 
July. Lower prices in July for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials; foods, feeds, and beverages; and 
capital goods led the decline which more than offset rising prices for consumer goods. Automotive vehicles 
prices recorded no change. Despite the recent declines, nonfuel import prices rose 1.3 percent for the year 
ended in July. The 12-month advance was largely driven by higher nonfuel industrial supplies and materials 
prices although prices for consumer goods, capital goods, and automotive vehicles also increased over the 
past year.

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

Exports

All Exports: U.S. export prices declined 0.5 percent in July following a 0.2-percent rise in June and a 0.7-
percent advance in May. The July drop was the first monthly decrease since June 2017 and the largest since 
the index fell 0.6 percent in May 2017. Lower prices for agricultural exports drove the decline in July. 
Overall export prices advanced 4.3 percent between July 2017 and July 2018.

Agricultural Exports: Prices for agricultural exports fell 5.3 percent in July, after decreasing 1.0 percent in 
June and rising 1.6 percent in May. The fall in July was the largest monthly decline since the index 
decreased 6.5 percent in October 2011. A 14.1-percent drop in soybean prices was the primary contributor 
to the decline in agricultural prices; export prices for corn, wheat, fruits, and nuts also decreased in July. 
Agricultural export prices decreased 2.0 percent over the past year, the first 12-month drop since the index 
fell 1.8 percent in July 2017.   

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Nonagricultural export prices recorded no change in July following a 
0.4-percent rise in June and a 0.6-percent advance in May. Falling prices for nonagricultural industrial 
supplies and materials and automotive vehicles were offset by rising prices for nonagricultural foods in July. 
Export capital goods and consumer goods recorded no change. Overall nonagricultural prices increased 5.0 
percent over the past 12 months.

                                            SELECTED JULY HIGHLIGHTS                                            

Import Prices

Imports by Locality of Origin: Prices for imports from China decreased 0.2 percent in July, following a 
0.1-percent uptick in June. The July drop was the first monthly decline since the index fell 0.3 percent in 
September 2017. Despite the fall, import prices from China rose 0.2 percent between July 2017 and July 
2018. In contrast, import prices from Japan rose 0.3 percent in July, the largest monthly advance since the 
index increased 0.5 percent in January. Prices for imports from Japan rose 0.7 percent for the year ended in 
July, the largest 12-month increase since the index advanced 1.0 percent in June 2017. Prices for imports 
from Canada ticked up 0.1 percent in July, and the price indexes for imports from Mexico and the European 
Union fell 0.5 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.  

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials declined 
1.0 percent in July, after increasing 0.2 percent in June and 0.8 percent in May. Lower prices for copper, 
gold, and lumber drove the drop in July.
	
Finished Goods: Import prices for major finished goods were mixed in July. Consumer goods prices 
advanced 0.3 percent, the largest monthly increase since the index rose 0.5 percent in February. A 1.7-
percent advance in medicinal, dental, and pharmaceutical materials drove the increase. The price index for 
capital goods edged down 0.1 percent for the third consecutive month in July. Prices for automotive vehicles 
recorded no change.   

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Prices for foods, feeds, and beverages declined 1.8 percent in July following 
a 2.6-percent drop in June. The July decrease was primarily driven by lower prices for fruit.

Transportation Services: Import air passenger fares declined 5.8 percent in July following a 7.3-percent 
rise in June and a 2.5-percent fall in May. An 8.5-percent drop in European fares and a 7.9-percent decrease 
in Asian fares more than offset a 2.3-percent increase in Latin American/Caribbean fares. The import air 
passenger fares price index rose 1.5 percent for the year ended in July. Import air freight prices decreased 
2.3 percent in July and advanced 3.7 percent over the past 12 months.

Export Prices

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials 
prices fell 0.2 percent in July, after a 1.2-percent rise in June. Lower prices for gold, aluminum, and copper 
drove the July decline.

Finished Goods: Export prices for finished goods were mixed in July. Automotive vehicles prices edged 
down 0.1 percent for the second consecutive month. The price indexes for capital goods and consumer 
goods recorded no change in July.

Transportation Services: The price index for export air passenger fares increased 1.6 percent in July, after 
rising 5.0 percent in June and falling 0.7 percent in May. The July advance was driven by higher Asian, 
Latin American/Caribbean, and European fares. Despite the July increase, overall export air passenger fares 
decreased 1.8 percent over the past 12 months. Export air freight prices fell 0.2 percent in July, after 
recording no change in June. Prices for export air freight rose 3.7 percent over the past year.
		
Import and Export Price Index data for August are scheduled for release on Friday, September 14, 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 for 
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 price index and the export Locality of Destination price 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. For examples of the new tables for the Locality of Destination export price 
indexes and the Terms of Trade indexes, please use the links below:

Table 8. U.S. export price indexes and percent changes by locality of destination 
www.bls.gov/mxp/locality-of-destination-example.pdf

Table 9. U.S. terms of trade indexes and percent changes by locality 
www.bls.gov/mxp/terms-of-trade-example.pdf

                                                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) 
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 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 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 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.

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. 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.