February 17, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Rises in import prices by locality of origin in January

The price index for imports from Japan rose for the sixth consecutive month, up 0.4 percent in January after gaining the same amount in December. Over the past 12 months, the index increased 1.8 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prices of imports from Canada continued to increase, up 0.2 percent in January and 7.1 percent over the January 1999-2000 period. Led primarily by ongoing price increases for petroleum products, the import price index for Latin America also rose in January, up 0.8 percent. Over the past 12 months, the index gained 17.8 percent.

In addition, prices of imports from the European Union edged up 0.1 percent in January, after recording no change, on average, in December. Prices of manufactured goods have declined 0.5 percent over the past two months due to the rising value of the U.S. dollar against the European currencies; however, overall prices of European imports have remained largely unchanged because of a 12.9 percent increase for the price index of nonmanufactured goods over the same time period.

The index for imports from the Asian Newly Industrialized Countries dipped 0.1 percent last month, after posting no change in December and a 0.4 percent decline in November. For the year ended in January, the index fell 0.8 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS International Price program. Find out more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - January 2000," news release USDL 00-45. The Asian Newly Industrialized Countries include Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Latin America includes Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Note: import price data are subject to revision in each of the three months after original publication.