August 14, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices in July 2008

Import prices increased 1.7 percent in July after rising between 2.8 and 3.1 percent in each of the previous four months. Prices for overall imports jumped 21.6 percent for the year ended in July, the largest 12-month increase for the index since first publication in September 1982.

[Chart data—TXT]

Petroleum prices continued to trend upward, although the 4.0-percent advance in July was comparatively smaller than the average monthly increases recorded between February and June when petroleum prices rose 42.1 percent overall. The price index for petroleum advanced 79.2 percent over the past year.

Nonpetroleum prices also contributed to the July increase in overall import prices, rising 0.9 percent for the second consecutive month. Prices for nonpetroleum imports increased 8.0 percent over the past 12 months.

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 -- July 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1143.