U.S. import prices continued to trend down

Prices for U.S. imports continue their downward trend, having decreased by 1.1% in January, mainly due to the impact of cheaper oil. Even without it, however, the trend is negative for the eighth consecutive month, decreased by 0.2%.

The decline of price index for all imports fell 1.1% in January and this is the most significant monthly decrease since last August, when the index dropped with 1.8%. Even though the decline is more modest than analysts' expectations for 1.4%.

Both fuel and nonfuel prices continued to trend down. Compared to January 2015, prices of imported goods are down by 6.2 %.

Import fuel prices dropped with 12.4 % in January which is the largest 1-month drop since a 12.7- percent decline in August 2015. On a a monthly basis the import fuel prices didn’t rise on a monthly basis since a 1.5% advance in June 2015. The January drop was led by a 13.4-percent decline in petroleum prices, although natural gas prices also fell, decreasing 3.2 percent. The price index for import fuel declined 34.5 percent for the year ended in January, while over the same period petroleum prices fell 35.3 percent and natural gas prices decreased 40.1 percent.

U.S. export prices also fell in January,  declining by 0.8 percent compared to December and 5.7 % last year. Most significant is the decline in agricultural exports – the drop is of 12.7% from January 2015 to January 2016.