U.S. Import And Export Price Indexes — 1998-03-12

The U.S. Import Price Index fell 0.8 percent in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The decline marked the fourth month in a row the index was down and was again attributable to decreases in both petroleum and nonpetroleum prices. The U.S. Export Price Index, down 0.2 percent, fell for the third month in a row, primarily due to falling agricultural prices. Percent changes in import and export price indexes by End Use category - not seasonally adjusted - IMPORTS EXPORTS Month All Petroleum Non- All Agri- Nonagri- Imports Imports petroleum Exports cultural cultural Imports Exports Exports 1997 The February import price decline of 0.8 percent followed slightly larger declines of 1.2 percent and 1.0 percent in the previous two months, respectively. Over the past 12 months, the import price index decreased 6.1 percent. Petroleum prices fell 7.4 percent in February and declined 32.0 percent for the year ended in February.