U.S. Import And Export Price Indexes — 1998-12-16

The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.3 percent in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The decline, attributable to a sharp drop in petroleum prices, followed increases of 0.2 percent in each of the previous two months. Prices for nonpetroleum imports increased slightly in November for the second consecutive month. Export prices edged up 0.1 percent in November, after decreasing for five consecutive months. Percent changes in import and export price indexes by End Use category - not seasonally adjusted - Month Non- Agri- Nonagri- All Petroleum petroleum All cultural cultural Imports Imports Imports Exports Exports Exports 1997 November -0.4 -3.5 -0.2 0.0 0.7 -0.1 December -1.0 -6.8 -0.4 -0.4 -0.8 -0.4 1998 January -1.3 -10.0 -0.6 -0.7 -2.7 -0.4 February -0.9 -6.5 -0.4 -0.3 -1.5 -0.2 March -0.8 -9.0 -0.3 -0.3 -0.5 -0.3 April -0.3 0.4 -0.3 -0.4 -1.6 -0.2 May -0.1 0.5 -0.2 0.1 1.0 -0.1 June -0.6 -4.4 -0.4