April 14, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Import prices down again in March 2006

The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.4 percent in March following a similar 0.5-percent drop in February.

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

The price indexes for both nonpetroleum and petroleum imports contributed to the overall decline in import prices, but excluding all fuels, import prices actually increased a modest 0.1 percent.

Petroleum prices fell 0.7 percent in March, the fifth decline in the past six months. Despite the recent trend, however, the price index of petroleum imports rose 22.6 percent over the year ended in March.

Nonpetroleum prices decreased 0.3 percent in March, driven down in part by a sharp decline in natural gas prices. Over the past 12 months, prices of nonpetroleum imports increased 1.1 percent while overall import prices advanced 4.5 percent.

Export prices rose 0.2 percent in March after ticking up 0.1 percent the previous month.

These data are from the BLS International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. Learn more in "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - March 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-639.