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

Prices for U.S. imports increased 0.5 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 
today, after declining 0.4 percent in August and 0.1 percent in July. The September advance was led by 
higher fuel prices. U.S. export prices recorded no change in September following declines of 0.2 percent and 
0.5 percent the previous 2 months. 

Imports

Import prices advanced 0.5 percent in September, the first monthly increase since a 0.9-percent rise in May. 
The upturn reversed the declines in each of the previous 2 months. Prices for overall imports rose 3.5 
percent from September 2017 to September 2018 and have not recorded an over-the-year decrease since the 
index fell 0.2 percent in October 2016. (See table 1.)  

Fuel Imports: The price index for import fuels increased 3.8 percent in September, after declining 2.2 
percent in August. The September advance was the largest monthly rise since a 6.1-percent increase in May 
and was led by higher petroleum prices which more than offset lower natural gas prices. Prices for 
petroleum increased 4.1 percent in September following a 2.3-percent decline the previous month. In 
contrast, natural gas prices fell 4.0 percent, after decreasing 3.9 percent in August. Fuel prices increased 
30.0 percent for the year ended in September, driven by a 32.1-percent advance in petroleum prices. The 
price index for natural gas fell 1.3 percent over the past 12 months.  

All Imports Excluding Fuel: Prices for nonfuel imports recorded no change in September, after a 0.2-
percent decline in August. Higher foods, feeds, and beverages prices in September offset decreasing prices 
for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials and consumer goods. The price index for nonfuel imports 
increased 0.6 percent over the past 12 months. The over-the-year advance was driven mostly by a 4.3-
percent rise in nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, although higher prices for consumer goods and 
automotive vehicles also contributed to the increase. In contrast, prices for foods, feeds, and beverages fell 
over the same period and prices for capital goods recorded no change.   

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonfuel industrial supplies and materials prices decreased 0.4 
percent in September following a 0.9-percent drop the previous month. The September decrease was driven 
by a 1.4-percent decline in unfinished metals prices and a 1.2-percent drop in prices for selected building 
materials.   

Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mostly flat during September. Consumer goods prices edged 
down 0.1 percent and the price indexes for capital goods and automotive vehicles both recorded no change.  

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Import prices for foods, feeds, and beverages advanced 2.0 percent in 
September, after a 0.3-percent increase in August. The September advance was led by a 13.7-percent rise in 
fruit prices and a 4.5-percent increase in vegetable prices.


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

Exports 

U.S. export prices recorded no change in September following declines in each of the previous 2 months. 
Those were the first monthly decreases since June 2017. In September, lower agricultural prices offset 
increasing nonagricultural prices. Despite decreasing over the past quarter, prices for U.S. exports advanced 
2.7 percent for the year ended in September. (See table 2.)  

Agricultural Exports: Agricultural export prices fell 1.4 percent in September, after rising 0.3 percent in 
August and declining 5.2 percent in July. Overall, agricultural prices decreased 6.2 percent in the third 
quarter of 2018. The drop in agricultural prices in September and over the past 3 months was driven by 
lower soybean prices which fell 18.8 percent from June to September. The price index for agricultural 
exports decreased 2.3 percent over the past year. Declining prices for soybeans, fruits, meat, and nuts all 
contributed to the 12-month decrease.    

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Prices for nonagricultural exports rose 0.2 percent in September 
following a 0.2-percent decline the previous month. Higher prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and 
materials; capital goods; automotive vehicles; and nonagricultural foods all contributed to the September 
advance in nonagricultural prices. The price index for nonagricultural exports increased 3.3 percent over the 
past 12 months and has not recorded an over-the-year decline since November 2016. 

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials prices 
advanced 0.2 percent in September, after falling 0.7 percent in August. The increase was led by higher 
prices for fuel, chemicals, and iron and steel mill products, which more than offset lower nonferrous metals 
prices. 

Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mostly up in September. The price indexes for capital goods 
and automotive vehicles each edged up 0.1 percent and consumer goods prices recorded no change. The rise 
in capital goods prices in September was driven by higher prices for computer peripherals and the increase 
in prices for automotive vehicles was led by a 0.1-percent advance in passenger cars prices.

Measures of Import and Export Prices by Locality

Imports by Locality of Origin: Import prices from China edged down 0.1 percent for the third consecutive 
month in September. Despite the declines, the price index for imports from China advanced 0.4 percent 
from September 2017 to September 2018. Prices for imports from Japan decreased 0.2 percent in 
September, after recording no change the previous month. The September decline was the largest monthly 
drop since the index fell 0.3 percent in October 2017. Import prices from the European Union also 
decreased in September, declining 0.2 percent following a 0.1-percent drop in August. In contrast, prices for 
imports from Canada and Mexico increased 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. Higher fuel prices 
factored into both advances. (See table 7.)

Exports by Locality of Destination: Export prices to China decreased 1.7 percent in September, after 
falling 0.2 percent in August and 2.2 percent in July. The index has not recorded a monthly advance since 
May. Prices for exports to Japan fell 0.5 percent in September and have not recorded a monthly increase 
since a 1.4-percent advance in February. The price index for exports to Mexico edged down 0.1 percent in 
September following 0.1-percent increases in August and July. In contrast, export prices to Canada rose 0.4 
percent, after advancing 0.2 percent the previous month. The September rise was the largest monthly 
increase since a 0.8-percent advance in May. The price index for exports to the European Union recorded no 
change, after edging down 0.1 percent in each of the previous 3 months. (See table 8.)     

Terms of Trade Indexes: Terms of Trade indexes are based on the country, region, or grouping and 
measure the change in the purchasing power of exports relative to imports. The U.S. terms of trade index 
with China fell 1.6 percent in September following a 0.1-percent decline in August and a 2.1-percent drop in 
July. The decreases over the past 3 months were driven by the drop in export prices to China which were 
greater than the declines in import prices from China. The index for U.S. terms of trade with Japan declined 
0.3 percent for the second consecutive month, after falling 1.3 percent in July. The U.S. terms of trade also 
declined with Canada and Mexico in September, falling 0.4 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. In 
contrast, the index for U.S. terms of trade with the European Union increased 0.3 percent in September 
following 0.1-percent declines the previous 2 months. The September increase resulted from lower import 
prices from the European Union. (See table 9.)

Import and Export Services

Imports: The index for import air passenger fares increased 10.7 percent in September, the largest monthly 
advance since the index rose 10.7 percent in June 2013. The last time the index increased by more than 10.7 
percent was a 13.0-percent rise in June 2009. The September advance was led by a 20.3-percent increase in 
European fares. Import air passenger fares rose 5.7 percent over the past year, the largest 12-month advance 
since a 7.9-percent increase in April. Import air freight prices rose 0.8 percent in September and 3.3 percent 
over the past 12 months. (See table 10.)  

Exports: Export air passenger fares declined 2.8 percent in September following a 3.7-percent drop the 
previous month. The September decrease was driven by a 7.1-percent decline in Asian fares. Despite the 
recent decreases, the index for export air passenger fares increased 2.4 percent from September 2017 to 
September 2018. Prices for export air freight rose 0.5 percent in September and 3.4 percent over the past 
year.           
		
Import and Export Price Index data for October are scheduled for release on Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 
8:30 a.m. (EST).

                                                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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