Washington, September 9—Import prices in August rose 1.7 percent following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent gain in July, according to a Labor Department report. It was the largest monthly increase since a matching jump in February 2003.
Wall Street had forecast a milder 0.7 percent advance after July's originally reported 0.2 percent rise.
The cost of petroleum products increased 9.6 percent in the month, while non-petroleum import prices increased 0.4 percent.
On a year-on-year basis, import prices were up 7.2 percent in August while imports excluding petroleum rose 3.2 percent.
Export prices fell 0.5 percent compared with a revised 0.5 percent rise in July. July's gain was initially reported as a 0.4 percent increase.
Indicating pricing pressures in the manufacturing process, the cost of imported industrial supplies and materials rose 5.5 percent in August compared with a 1.0 percent rise the previous month. Industrial supplies excluding petroleum climbed 2.0 percent
