Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until                                      USDL-19-0949
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                                U.S. IMPORT AND EXPORT PRICE INDEXES - MAY 2019                                 

Prices for U.S. imports declined 0.3 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, 
following an increase of 0.1 percent the previous month. Lower fuel and nonfuel prices contributed to the 
May decline in import prices. U.S. export prices fell 0.2 percent in May, after advancing 0.1 percent in 
April, 0.8 percent in March, and 0.6 percent in February.  

Imports

U.S. Import prices fell 0.3 percent in May, the first monthly decline since a 1.4-percent drop in December. 
Import prices advanced 1.8 percent from December to April before the downturn in May. The price index 
for overall imports decreased 1.5 percent over the past 12 months, matching the drop in January. These were 
the largest over-the-year declines since the index fell 2.2 percent in August 2016. (See table 1.) 

Fuel Imports: Import fuel prices declined 1.0 percent in May, after rising 25.4 percent over the previous 4 
months. Lower prices for both petroleum and natural gas contributed to the May decline. Petroleum prices 
fell 0.9 percent in May, after a 4.7-percent advance in April. The May decrease was the first monthly 
decline since a 15.3-percent drop in December. Natural gas prices fell 6.8 percent in May following a 51.1-
percent decline the previous month. Overall fuel prices decreased 1.1 percent over the past year. The decline 
was driven by a 1.9-percent drop in petroleum prices which more than offset a 2.5-percent rise in natural gas 
prices. 

All Imports Excluding Fuel: Prices for nonfuel imports fell 0.3 percent in May following a 0.1-percent 
decline in April and a 0.2-percent decrease in March. Lower prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and 
materials; foods, feeds, and beverages; capital goods; and automotive vehicles all contributed to the May 
decrease in nonfuel prices. The price index for nonfuel imports declined 1.4 percent between May 2018 and 
May 2019.   

Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Nonfuel industrial supplies and materials prices decreased 1.0 
percent in May, after falling 0.1 percent in April. The May decline was led by a 1.9-percent drop in 
unfinished metals prices. Lower prices for building materials and paper also contributed to the overall 
decline. 
	
Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mostly down in May. The price indexes for capital goods and 
automotive vehicles each edged down 0.1 percent following decreases of 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent, 
respectively, in April. Consumer goods prices recorded no change in May, after declining 0.3 percent the 
previous month.   

Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Prices for foods, feeds, and beverages fell 0.8 percent in May following a 
2.7-percent increase in April. In May, a 10.4-percent drop in vegetable prices more than offset a 7.5-percent 
advance in fruit prices.

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

Exports 

Prices for U.S. exports declined 0.2 percent in May, the first monthly drop since the index fell 0.6 percent in 
January. Lower prices for both agricultural and nonagricultural exports contributed to the May decline. 
Export prices decreased 0.7 percent over the past 12 months, the largest over-the-year decline since the 
index fell 1.1 percent in October 2016. (See table 2.)

Agricultural Exports: The price index for agricultural exports declined 1.0 percent in May, after 
decreasing 1.5 percent the previous month. In May, lower prices for soybeans, wheat, and fruit more than 
offset higher prices for meat and vegetables. Agricultural export prices fell 5.3 percent over the past year, 
the largest 12-month drop since the index declined 9.1 percent in April 2016. A 20.6-percent decrease in 
soybeans prices for the year ended in May led the overall decline in agricultural prices. The drop in 
soybeans prices more than offset higher vegetable prices over the past 12 months.   

All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Nonagricultural export prices decreased 0.2 percent in May following 
a 0.2-percent increase the previous month. In May, falling prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and 
materials; consumer goods; nonagricultural foods; and automotive vehicles more than offset rising prices for 
capital goods. The price index for nonagricultural exports also declined 0.2 percent for the year ended in 
May. Lower prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials drove the overall decrease. In 
contrast, prices for each of the major finished goods categories rose over the past 12 months.

Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: Prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and 
materials decreased 0.4 percent in May, after rising 0.7 percent in April. Decreasing prices for fuel and 
nonferrous metals more than offset advancing chemicals prices.  

Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mixed in May. Prices for capital goods ticked up 0.1 percent 
for the second consecutive month. A 0.7-percent advance in transportation equipment prices led the May 
increase in capital goods prices. In contrast, consumer goods prices decreased 0.2 percent in May and prices 
for automotive vehicles edged down 0.1 percent.

Measures of Import and Export Prices by Locality

Imports by Locality of Origin: The price index for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in May 
following a 0.2-percent drop the previous month. Import prices from China have not recorded a monthly 
advance since the index rose 0.1 percent in May 2018. Prices for imports from China declined 1.4 percent 
over the past year, the largest 12-month drop since a 1.6-percent decrease in February 2017. Import prices 
from Japan recorded no change in May, after a 0.1-percent decline in April. Prices for imports from Japan 
also recorded no change from May 2018 to May 2019. The price index for imports from Canada declined 
1.0 percent in May, driven by lower fuel prices. The May drop followed a 2.1-percent increase in April. In 
contrast, import prices from Mexico and the European Union advanced 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, 
respectively. (See table 7.)

Exports by Locality of Destination: Export prices to China fell 1.4 percent in May, after increasing 1.9 
percent over the previous 3 months. The May decrease was led by a 4.6-percent drop in nonmanufacturing 
prices, though lower manufacturing prices also contributed to the overall decline. Prices for exports to China 
decreased 4.3 percent over the past 12 months. The price index for exports to Japan also fell in May, 
declining 0.9 percent. The decrease followed a 0.7-percent advance in April. Export prices to Japan fell 2.0 
percent over the past year. In May, prices for exports to Canada decreased 0.3 percent, after declining 0.7 
percent in April. Export prices to Mexico and the European Union each edged down 0.1 percent in May. 
Prices for exports to Mexico fell 0.4 percent in April and the price index for exports to the European Union 
rose 0.6 percent. (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. U.S. terms of trade with China fell 1.3 
percent in May following 0.7-percent increases in each of the previous 2 months. The decline in May 
resulted from export prices to China falling more than import prices from China. The index for U.S. terms 
of trade with China decreased 2.9 percent over the past year. U.S. terms of trade with Japan declined 0.9 
percent in May, after rising 0.8 percent in April. The index for U.S. terms of trade with Japan fell 1.9 
percent for the year ended in May. U.S. terms of trade with Mexico and the European Union also decreased 
in May, declining 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. In contrast, terms of trade between the United 
States and Canada rose 0.7 percent in May, after falling 2.7 percent the previous month. (See table 9.)

Import and Export Services

Imports: Import air passenger fares increased 6.9 percent in May following a 7.2-percent decline in April 
and a 5.7-percent decrease in March. The May advance was driven by an 8.0-percent rise in European fares 
and a 9.9-percent increase in Asian fares. The index for import air passenger fares fell 1.9 percent for the 
year ended in May. Prices for import air freight rose 0.8 percent in May, after increasing 1.7 percent in 
April. Despite the recent advances, import air freight prices declined 7.9 percent over the past year, the 
largest 12-month drop since the index fell 9.5 percent in July 2016. (See table 10.)

Exports: Export air passenger fares advanced 0.7 percent in May following a 1.4-percent decline in April. 
The May increase was led by a 5.6-percent rise in Asian fares. Despite the advance in May, export air 
passenger fares fell 2.1 percent over the past year and have not recorded a 12-month advance since the index 
rose 2.4 percent in September. The price index for export air freight rose 0.3 percent in May and 1.3 percent 
over the past 12 months.   
		
Import and Export Price Index data for June are scheduled for release on Tuesday, July 16, 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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