Mubasher: The United States import prices for September recorded their biggest increase in more than a year, due to a growth in petroleum and food costs, as reported by Reuters.
The American Labour Department said on Tuesday that import prices went up by 0.7% last month, making the biggest gain since June 2016, after an unrevised 0.6% rise in August, however, the underlying imported inflation remained modest.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices increasing 0.5% in September.
Import prices have jumped 2.7% since the beginning of 2017 until September, rising 2.1% in August, and peaking in February with a 4.7% year-on-year rise in import prices peaked at 4.7% in, which was the biggest advance in five years.
The news agency noted that prices for imported petroleum increased 4.5% last month, after rising 5.0% in the month before, whereas food prices surged by 1.8%, registering the largest gain since July 2016, after edging up 0.2% in August.
Import prices excluding petroleum rose 0.3% after a similar gain in August, with an increase of 1.2% in the 12 months through September.
According to Reuters, the increase in import prices excluding petroleum has remained moderate despite the dollar weakening more than 6% in 2017 against the currencies of the United States’ main trading partners.
