April 2012 U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — 2012-05-10

U.S. import prices declined 0.5 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, following a 1.5 percent increase in March. The April decrease was driven by lower fuel prices which more than offset a small increase in nonfuel prices. The price index for overall exports rose 0.4 percent in April after a 0.8 percent increase the previous month. All Imports: Prices for U.S. imports fell 0.5 percent in April, the first monthly decrease since a 0.4 percent decline in October 2011 and the largest one-month drop since the index decreased 0.6 percent in June 2011. Despite the April decline, import prices rose 0.5 percent over the past year, although that was the smallest 12-month advance since the index last recorded a year-over-year decrease in October 2009. Fuel Imports: A 2.1 percent drop in fuel prices led the overall decline in import prices in April.