February 17, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices in January

The U.S. Import Price Index increased 1.3 percent in January.

Over-the-month percent change in price index for imports, January 2003–January 2004 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

The 1.3-percent advance in import prices in January marked the fourth consecutive monthly increase in this series and was led by a 6.2-percent climb in petroleum prices, the largest rise in the petroleum index since February 2003. Over the past twelve months, however, petroleum prices were up a comparatively modest 2.8 percent.

Prices for nonpetroleum imports rose 0.7 percent in January and were up 1.5 percent during the January 2003-2004 period. Overall import prices rose 1.8 percent for the year ended in January.

Export prices gained 0.5 percent in January, following a 0.2-percent rise in December.

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 - January 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-151.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED