The price index for U.S. imports rose 1.1 percent in February after increasing 0.6 percent the previous month. The February and January rises were both driven by higher fuel prices. U.S. export prices advanced 0.8 percent in February following a 0.3-percent increase in January.
The 1.1-percent increase in import prices was the largest monthly advance since a 1.2-percent rise in August 2012. Despite the February advance, import prices fell 0.3 percent over the past year, and have not recorded a year-over-year increase since April 2012.
The price index for import fuel rose 4.9 percent in February after advancing 2.6 percent in January. The February increase was the largest 1-month advance since a 6.1-percent rise in August 2012, and was driven by a 5.2-percent increase in petroleum prices. Despite the February increase, import fuel prices fell 0.6 percent over the past year, as a 1.4-percent decrease in petroleum prices more than offset a 29.7-percent advance in natural gas prices.
Nonfuel import prices were unchanged in February following a 0.2-percent increase the previous month. The price index for nonfuel imports was also unchanged over the past 12 months, the third consecutive month the index has recorded no change on a 12-month basis.
Export prices rose 0.8 percent in February, the largest monthly gain since a similar 0.8-percent advance in September 2012. Higher agricultural and nonagricultural prices each contributed to the February increase. The price index for overall exports rose 1.5 percent for the year ended in February, the largest 12-month increase since the index advanced a similar 1.5 percent between October 2011 and October 2012.
These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export prices are subject to revision. To learn more, see “U.S. Import and Export Price
Indexes — February 2013” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-13-0423.
United States Department of Labor
