May 12, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import Price Index posts first decline since June 1999

The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 1.6 percent in April. The decrease, the first since June 1999, was attributable to a large downturn in petroleum prices.

[Chart data—TXT]

The 1.6-percent decrease in import prices in April was the largest since December 1992. The decline was attributable to a 12.7-percent drop in petroleum prices in April, the largest decrease posted for this index since it fell 13.3 percent in December 1998. Despite the decrease, imported petroleum prices are still 143.9 percent higher than 16 months ago.

Nonpetroleum import prices continued to move higher in April, edging up 0.1 percent. Over the past year, the nonpetroleum index increased 1.3 percent.

The overall import price index rose 6.3 percent from April 1999 to April 2000.

These data are a product of the BLS International Price program. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - April 2000," news release USDL 00-135. Note: import price data are subject to revision in each of the three months after original publication.