U.S. import, export price indexes see monthly increases in July

However, over the past year, the prices for U.S. agricultural exports have slipped 2.6 percent, primarily due to the falling prices of nuts, wheat and corn.    The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday the price index for both U.S. imports and exports in July ticked up from the prior month.
   Prices for U.S. imports rose 0.1 percent month-over-month in July. Import prices from Japan and Canada in July rose from the prior month. On the flip side, prices for imports from China, the European Union and Mexico posted monthly declines. The price index for imports from China has not recorded a monthly advance since Dec 2014.
   In regards to non-fuel imports, the price index had a monthly increase of 0.3 percent in July, driven by higher prices for non-fuel industrial supplies and materials; and food, feeds and beverages. However, the cost for import finished goods declined.
   Fuel import prices had a monthly decline of 2.5 percent, resulting from a 3.6 percent drop in petroleum prices, more than offsetting a 31.4 percent increase in the prices for natural gas imports.
   Over the past year though, import prices have fallen 3.7 percent, while non-fuel import prices slipped 1.2 percent and fuel prices tumbled 22.3 percent.
   On the export side, the price index for U.S. exports in July rose 0.2 percent month-over-month as higher non-agricultural prices more than offset a drop in agricultural prices.
   Non-agricultural export prices ticked up 0.3 percent on a monthly basis.
   However, agricultural export prices fell 0.4 percent from June due to a drop in corn and wheat prices.
   Over the past year, export prices slipped 3 percent. Non-agricultural exports also fell three percent, while agricultural exports slipped 2.6 percent, primarily due to the falling prices of nuts, wheat and corn.