U.S. import prices advanced 0.6 percent in March 2014 after a 0.9-percent increase in February. Despite the recent advances, import prices fell 0.6 percent over the past year in March. Import prices have not recorded a 12-month rise since the index increased 0.9 percent for the year ended July 2013.
Import fuel prices advanced 1.2 percent in March, following a 5.3-percent advance in February. From March 2013 to March 2014, import fuel prices rose 0.8 percent. The March increase was driven by natural gas prices, which rose 21.7 percent during the month and 115.3 percent over the year. Petroleum prices ticked up 0.1 percent in March 2014 but dropped 2.4 percent over the year.
Nonfuel import prices also increased in March, rising 0.3 percent after edging down 0.1 percent in February. Nonfuel prices declined 0.8 percent from March 2013 to March 2014.
U.S. export prices increased 0.8 percent in March, the largest monthly increase since September 2012, following a 0.7-percent advance the previous month. Rising prices for both agricultural and nonagricultural exports contributed to the March advance. The year-over-year advance was the first 12-month rise since a 0.3-percent increase between July 2012 and July 2013.
These data are from the International Price program. Import and export price data are subject to revision. To learn more, see “U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — March 2014” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-0566.
United States Department of Labor
