November 15, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Small advance in import prices in October

The U.S. Import Price Index increased 0.1 percent in October, following a 0.7-percent increase in September. Overall import prices, which have decreased only once in the first 10 months of 2002, continued to be led by an upward trend in petroleum prices.

Over-the-month percent change in price index for imports, October 2001—October 2002 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

Petroleum prices were up 1.1 percent in October, after gaining 14.4 percent over the preceding 3 months. The petroleum index, which increased in 9 of the past 10 months, has increased 64.8 percent since December 2001. In contrast, the index for nonpetroleum imports dipped 0.1 percent in October, after modest increases in September and August.

The Export Price Index was unchanged in October, after increasing in each of the previous 3 months.

These data are a product of the BLS International Price program. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - October 2002" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 02-628.

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