April 2024 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2024-05-16

U.S. imports increased 0.9 percent in April, after advancing 0.6 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Higher fuel and nonfuel import prices contributed to the overall rise. Prices for U.S. exports increased 0.5 percent in April following a 0.1-percent advance the previous month. The price index for U.S. imports advanced 0.9 percent in April, the largest 1-month increase since the index rose 2.9 percent in March 2022. Prices for U.S. imports last declined on a monthly basis in December 2023. Import prices advanced 1.1 percent over the past 12 months, the largest over-the-year increase since December 2022. (See table 1.) Fuel Imports: Prices for import fuel rose 2.4 percent in April, after advancing 5.4 percent the previous month. Import fuel prices have not decreased on a monthly basis since the index fell 8.0 percent in December 2023. Prices for import fuel increased 3.3 percent for the year ended in April.