Washington, DC, August 12--With oil prices surging again, prices of imports rose 1.1% in July, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Excluding the 6.6% increase in petroleum prices, import prices fell 0.1% in July for its third consecutive decline. Excluding all fuels, import prices fell 0.3%, the largest decline in the 3 1/2-year history of the index.
The import price index shows no pressure on U.S. inflation outside of the energy sector.
Economists expected import prices to rise 0.7% in July.
Import prices rose 7.7% in the past 12 months, up from 7% a month ago. Excluding the 43% rise in petroleum prices, however, import prices are up just 2.2% in the past year.
Prices of exports from the United States, meanwhile, rose 0.1%, despite agricultural export prices falling 0.2%.
Excluding agriculture, export prices rose 0.2% in July.
In the past year, export prices are up 2.7%, with agricultural prices down 1.9%.
Prices of Chinese imports fell by 0.3% in July, the second decline in a row.
