WASHINGTON — Import prices dropped 1.3% in June, much larger than economists expected and the largest drop in 17 months, the Labor Department reported today.
Import prices excluding petroleum fell 0.5%, the first decline since March and the largest in 15 months. The 4.4% drop in petroleum prices, the largest since January 2009, led to the 0.6% decline in all import fuel prices. Import prices excluding petroleum increased 0.5% in May. For the first half of 2010, petroleum prices changed little.
Export prices decreased 0.2% in June, the first decline since February.
Total import prices for May fell 0.5%, revised higher from the 0.6% drop initially reported. The back-to-back declines in May and June were the first since December 2008 and January 2009.
Economists expected import prices to decrease 0.3%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Industrial supplies and materials import prices fell 3.0%, the largest drop since January 2009. Non-petroleum industrial supplies and materials fell 1.3%.
Capital goods prices fell 0.3% and autos declined 0.2%, the largest decline since January.
For the 12 months ending in June, import prices increased 4.5%, following an 8.7% increase in the May year-over-year period.
