February 17, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices in January 2006

The U.S. Import Price Index rose 1.3 percent in January. The increase followed declines of 1.8 percent and 0.1 percent in November and December, and was primarily led by an increase in petroleum prices.

[Chart data—TXT]

Petroleum prices rose 6.4 percent in January, reversing the trend over the past three months when the index declined 12.3 percent. Despite decreasing over the last three months of 2005, petroleum prices increased 48.3 percent for the January 2005-January 2006 period.

The price index for nonpetroleum imports increased for the second consecutive month in January, rising 0.2 percent following a 0.1-percent uptick in December. Prices for nonpetroleum imports advanced 2.4 percent for the year ended in January, while overall import prices rose 8.8 percent over the same period.

Export prices rose 0.7 percent in January as 0.7-percent increases for both agricultural prices and for nonagricultural prices contributed to the increase.

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 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-269.