October 2019 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2019-11-15

U.S. import prices fell 0.5 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, following a 0.1-percent increase the previous month. The decrease in October was driven by lower petroleum prices, which declined 3.7 percent; prices for all imports excluding petroleum fell 0.1 percent. The price index for U.S. exports decreased 0.1 percent in October, after declining 0.2 percent in September. Prices for U.S. imports decreased 0.5 percent in October, after rising 0.1 percent in September and declining 0.6 percent in August. The U.S. import price index declined 3.0 percent from October 2018 to October 2019. The 3.0-percent 12-month decrease was the largest over-the-year decline since the index fell 3.7 percent during the period ended July 2016. (See table 1.) Fuel Imports: Import fuel prices declined 2.9 percent in October after increasing 1.5 percent the previous month.