Import and export prices, October 2009

The price index for all imports rose 0.7 percent in October, led by a 1.8 percent increase in fuel prices. The rise followed a 0.2-percent increase in September. The price index for all exports advanced 0.3 percent in October after decreasing 0.2 percent the previous month.

[Chart data]

The increase in U.S. import prices in October continued the recent upward trend for the index. Import prices have risen in seven of the past eight months and were up 8.1 percent over that period. Despite the recent increases, import prices declined 5.7 percent for the year ended in October, driven by a 12.8-percent drop in prices between October 2008 and January 2009.

Export prices rose 0.3 percent after falling 0.2 percent in September. Rising nonagricultural prices more than offset a drop in the price index for agricultural exports. Prices of overall exports decreased 3.4 percent for the October 2008–2009 period.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. For more information, see "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — October 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-09-1360.