July 17, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices in June 2006

The U.S. Import Price Index rose 0.1 percent in June 2006. The 0.1-percent advance was modest compared to the 2.0-percent and 1.7-percent increases in April and May, respectively.

Over-the-month percent change in price index for imports, June 2005–June 2006 (not seasonally adjusted)
[Chart data—TXT]

The June rise was dampened by a 1.4-percent decrease in petroleum prices, which had risen 17.8 percent over the previous two months. Despite the June downturn, petroleum prices rose 32.6 percent over the past year.

In contrast, the price index for nonpetroleum import prices advanced 0.4 percent in June following increases of 0.1 percent in April and 0.7 percent in May.

For the year ended in June, nonpetroleum import prices rose 2.2 percent while overall import prices increased 7.2 percent.

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 - June 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1202.

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