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U.S. import and export prices down in April 2014

May 15, 2014

U.S. import prices fell 0.4 percent in April following a 0.4-percent advance the previous month. This was the first monthly decrease since the index fell 0.9 percent in November 2013. Export prices decreased 1.0 percent in April after rising 1.0 percent in March.

1-month percent change in the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes, April 2013–April 2014
MonthImportsExports

Apr 2013

-0.7-0.6

May 2013

-0.6-0.5

Jun 2013

-0.4-0.1

Jul 2013

0.1-0.2

Aug 2013

0.4-0.5

Sep 2013

0.30.4

Oct 2013

-0.6-0.6

Nov 2013

-0.90.2

Dec 2013

0.10.4

Jan 2014

0.40.3

Feb 2014

1.10.8

Mar 2014

0.41.0

Apr 2014

-0.4-1.0

Falling prices for both petroleum and natural gas contributed to the April drop in import prices. Fuel prices declined 1.7 percent, the first decrease for this index since a 4.2-percent drop in November 2013. The price for natural gas fell 18.5 percent in April, following a 6-month period between September 2013 and March 2014 in which the index jumped 157.8 percent.  

The price for nonfuel imports recorded no change in April, after rising 0.3 percent in March.

The 1.0-percent decrease in export prices in April was the largest monthly decline since the index fell 1.7 percent in June 2012. The decrease was led by lower nonagricultural prices, which more than offset rising agricultural prices.

These data are from the International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. To learn more, see “U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — April 2014” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-0809.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, U.S. import and export prices down in April 2014 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140515.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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