June 13, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices, May 2008

The U.S. Import Price Index rose 2.3 percent in May, following advances of 2.4 percent in April and 3.0 percent in March.

[Chart data—TXT]

Higher petroleum prices continued to be a major contributor to the advance in overall import prices, increasing 7.8 percent in May after rising 5.9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, in the prior two months.

Nonpetroleum prices also increased in May, although the 0.5-percent advance was modest compared to the 1.3-percent increase in April and the 1.2-percent rise in March.

Import prices advanced 17.8 percent over the past year, which was the largest over-the-year rise since the index was first published in September 1982.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import price data are subject to revision. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes -- May 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-0789.