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Import petroleum and coal prices up 61.3 percent for the year ended in April 2021

May 24, 2021

Prices for U.S. imports increased 10.6 percent for the year ended in April 2021. This was the largest increase since a gain of 11.1 percent for the year ended in October 2011. Prices for imported manufactured goods increased 5.9 percent over the past year. Within manufactured goods, prices for imported petroleum and coal products increased 61.3 percent, while primary metal prices increased 42.6 percent and food manufacturing prices were up 8.3 percent over this 12-month period.

U.S. import prices, manufacturing industries, percent change and relative importance, April 2021
Industry 12-month percent change, April 2020–April 2021 1-month percent change, March 2021–April 2021 Relative importance weight, March 2021

Manufacturing

5.9% 0.8% 91.495%

Transportation equipment manufacturing

1.3 0.2 16.890

Computer and electronic product manufacturing

0.1 0.1 16.113

Chemical manufacturing

5.9 1.2 10.786

Machinery manufacturing

1.8 0.4 7.716

Miscellaneous manufacturing

2.1 -0.4 5.300

Electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing

0.3 0.4 5.149

Primary metal manufacturing

42.6 2.0 4.842

Food manufacturing

8.3 2.2 3.641

Apparel manufacturing

0.1 -0.1 3.639

Fabricated metal product manufacturing

5.6 1.0 3.228

Plastics and rubber products manufacturing

4.0 -0.2 2.435

Petroleum and coal products manufacturing

61.3 6.0 2.419

Furniture and related product manufacturing

1.3 0.3 1.729

Leather and allied product manufacturing

-0.3 0.0 1.571

Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing

2.2 0.2 1.197

Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing

0.7 0.2 0.996

Paper manufacturing

4.4 0.7 0.937

Textile product mills

0.7 0.4 0.930

Note: Data may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication. Relative importance figures are based on 2019 trade values. Because not all industries are shown, manufacturing component industries do not sum to total.

Prices for imports of computer and electronic products, which made up 16.1 percent of total imports, changed little over the year. Prices for transportation equipment, which were 16.9 percent of imports, increased 1.3 percent over the year ended in April 2021.

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 Prices — April 2021.” Also see more charts on import and export price trends.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Import petroleum and coal prices up 61.3 percent for the year ended in April 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/import-petroleum-and-coal-prices-up-61-3-percent-for-the-year-ended-in-april-2021.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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