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

Import prices in July 2006

The U.S. Import Price Index increased 0.9 percent in July, led up for the third time in the past four months by rising petroleum prices.

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

The price index for import petroleum, which advanced 11.3 percent in April and 6.4 percent in May, increased 4.7 percent in July following a 1.4-percent downturn in June. For the year ended in July, petroleum prices rose 29.6 percent.

Nonpetroleum prices edged down a modest 0.1 percent in July after increasing in each of the previous three months. Prices for nonpetroleum imports advanced 2.3 percent over the past 12 months, while overall import prices rose 7.0 percent for the same period.

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 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1366.