July 13, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Continued downward trend in import prices 

The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.5 percent in June. The decline, the fourth in the past five months, was attributable to falling prices for both petroleum and nonpetroleum imports. 

[Chart data—TXT]

The 1.3 percent decrease in petroleum prices in June followed a 4.6 percent rise in the previous month. Nonpetroleum import prices also declined in June, down 0.4 percent, the fifth consecutive monthly decrease.

The decline in overall import prices in June continued a downward trend for this index, which has increased only once since September 2000.

Over the past 12 months, imported petroleum prices fell 12.7 percent, and prices for nonpetroleum imports decreased 1.1 percent. Over the same time period, the price index for overall imports declined 2.6 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS International Price program. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - June 2001," news release USDL 01-212. Note: import price data are subject to revision in each of the three months after original publication.