August 2021 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2021-09-15

U.S. import prices declined 0.3 percent in August following increases of 0.4 percent in July and 1.1 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The August downturn was led by lower fuel and nonfuel prices. In contrast, prices for U.S. exports advanced 0.4 percent in August, after increasing 1.1 percent in July. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Error in the Export Air Freight Price Indexes The price index for U.S. imports decreased 0.3 percent in August, the first monthly decline for the index since a 0.1-percent drop in October 2020. Import prices advanced 9.0 percent over the past year, the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021. Higher fuel and nonfuel prices contributed to the overall advance in import prices from August 2020 to August 2021. (See table 1.) Fuel Imports: Import fuel prices declined 2.3 percent in August following a 3.0-percent increase in July.