December 2021 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2022-01-14

U.S. import prices declined 0.2 percent in December, after rising 0.7 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In December, lower fuel prices more than offset higher prices for nonfuel imports. Prices for U.S. exports fell 1.8 percent in December following a 0.8-percent advance in November. The price index for U.S. imports declined 0.2 percent in December, the first monthly decrease since the index fell 0.2 percent in August 2021. Despite the December drop, U.S. import prices increased 10.4 percent over the past year. The advance in 2021 was the largest calendar-year rise since import prices increased 10.6 percent in 2007. (See table 1.) Fuel Imports: Prices for import fuel decreased 6.5 percent in December, the first monthly decline since August 2021 and the largest drop since a 30.9-percent decrease in April 2020.