WASHINGTON — Due to higher fuel costs, import prices rose 0.2% in July to post their first increase in three months, the Labor Department said Thursday. Export prices fell 0.2%.
Import prices excluding fuel fell 0.3% in July after sliding 0.5% in June to post the category’s first back-to-back decline since February and March 2009. The June decline was the first in 11 months.
Import prices dropped 2.0% during the three-month period ending in July, the largest decline for such a span since the three months ending in February 2009.
Economists expected import prices to rise 0.4%.