September 12, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Oil import prices advance in August

The U.S. Import Price Index increased 0.2 percent in August. The advance was attributable to a continued rise in petroleum prices, which more than offset a decline in prices for nonpetroleum imports.

[Chart data—TXT]

The 0.2 percent rise in import prices in August followed increases of 0.5 percent in July and 0.8 percent in June. The increase continued to be led by higher prices for imported petroleum, which rose 3.9 percent. Petroleum prices were up 14.0 percent over the past three months and 13.6 percent for the year ended in August. Partially offsetting last month’s increase in petroleum prices, the price index for nonpetroleum imports fell 0.2 percent after having been flat in July and up 0.4 percent in June. 

For the August 2002-2003 period, nonpetroleum import prices were up 0.8 percent. Overall import prices rose 2.1 percent over the same period.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - August 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-470.