December 2009 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2010-01-14

The U.S. Import Price Index was unchanged in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as a decline in fuel prices offset rising nonfuel prices. Import prices increased 8.6 percent in 2009. U.S. export prices advanced 0.6 percent in December and rose 3.4 percent in 2009. All Imports: Import prices were unchanged in December following increases in each of the four previous months. Prices for U.S. imports trended up over most of 2009, rising 8.6 percent overall for the year. In 2009, prices rebounded from a 10.1 percent decline in 2008, the largest calendar-year drop since the index was first published in 1982. Fuel prices were the primary contributor to both the decline in overall import prices for 2008 and the subsequent increase in 2009. Fuel Imports: Fuel prices fell 1.4 percent in December after advancing 2.9 percent in October and 7.1 percent in November.