July 15, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices down in June

The U.S. Import Price Index declined 0.2 percent in June. The decrease was the first since September 2003 and was led by lower petroleum prices.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prices for petroleum fell 1.0 percent last month after rising 9.4 percent in May, the largest monthly gain for the index since February 2003. Prices for petroleum imports were up 34.3 percent over the past year.

Nonpetroleum import prices were unchanged in June 2004, the first month since October 2003 that these prices did not increase. For the year ended in June, prices for nonpetroleum imports were up 2.4 percent and overall import prices rose 5.6 percent.

Export prices fell 0.6 percent in June, as both agricultural and nonagricultural prices contributed to the decline. The price index for agricultural exports fell 4.6 percent in June, marking the first monthly decline since August 2003 and the largest decrease since September 1996. Nonagricultural prices fell in June by 0.1 percent.

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 - June 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-1306.