WASHINGTON — Import prices in April rose 0.9%, higher than economists expected and the largest increase since January, the Labor Department reported today.
Import prices excluding petroleum increased 0.3% in April. Prices excluding petroleum for March fell 0.1%, revised from the 0.2% decline reported last month.
Economists expected import prices to increase 0.8%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters. Import prices for March were revised lower to a 0.5% increase from a 0.7% gain.
Import prices for capital goods, which include electricity-generating equipment and non-auto transportation equipment, increased 0.1%, the first rise for this sector in a year.
Industrial supplies and materials prices increased 2.4%, and excluding fuels, the sector rose 2.6%, the largest increase in two years.
For the year ending in April, import prices rose 11.1% following an 11.3% increase in March. Year-over-year import prices have increased by more than 11% every month this year.
The 12-month change for non-petroleum import prices increased 3.3% in April, the largest gain since October 2008.
Fuel prices have swung wildly over the past two years. For the year ended in April, imported fuel prices increased 54.3%. This follows a 50.8% drop in fuel prices between April 2008 and 2009. Such a volatile pattern has not been seen since 1998 and 1999.
Export prices increased 1.2% in April, the largest increase since July 2008. Non-agricultural export prices increased 1.8%, the largest increase on record dating back to December 1988.
