Washington, DC, April 13, 2006--Prices of goods imported into the United States decreased 0.4% in March, the third decline in the past four months, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Petroleum prices fell 0.7%, the fifth decline in the past six months and the largest decline since November. But the fall wasn't all petroleum. Excluding the drop in petroleum prices, import prices were down 0.3%.
Excluding all fuels, import prices rose a slight 0.1%.
The import price index shows no outside pressure on U.S. inflation.
Economists expected import prices to rise 0.1% in March after February's 0.5% drop.
In the past 12 months, prices for all imports are up 4.5%, compared with 7.2% a month ago.
Excluding petroleum, import prices were up 1.1% year-over-year.
Petroleum prices were up 22.6% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, prices of exports from the United States rose 0.2% in March, even as agriculture prices fell 0.2%. Export prices were up 2.2% in the past year.
The drop in non-fuel import prices was largely due to a 1.3% drop non-fuel industrial supply prices and the 0.2% decline in imported consumer goods prices.
