WASHINGTON — Import prices fell 0.3% in September as fuel prices declined, the Labor Department reported today.
Export prices increased 0.6% following an 0.8% increase in August.
Import prices excluding fuel increased 0.3% and prices excluding petroleum also increased 0.3%. It was the largest increase in import prices excluding petroleum since May.
Economists expected import prices would fall 0.2%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Import prices for August were unrevised at a 0.6% increase.
Fuel imports, which increased in August and July, dropped 3.1% as gasoline and natural gas prices fell.
Prices for nonfuel imports increased for the second consecutive month. Nonfuel industrial supplies and material prices increased 1.3% in September, the largest increase since May. Capital goods import prices were flat and auto prices increased 0.2%, gaining for the third straight month.
For the year ending in September, import prices increased 3.5%, the smallest annual gain since November 2009. Excluding fuel, import prices rose 2.6% over the year driven by an 11.7% rise in nonfuel industrial supplies and materials prices.
Import prices from China fell 0.2% for the month and also declined 0.2% over the last 12 months. Import prices from the European Union and Japan edged up 0.1%.
