Following a 1.7% increase in May, prices on goods the U.S. imports from the rest of the world rose just a tenth of a percentage point in June, the U.S. Labor Department reported on July 14.
The major reason for last month's smaller-than-expected increase in import prices was a 1.4% drop in the price of petroleum imports. Prices for imported petroleum had risen 6.1% in May and 11% in April.
(The June data, of course, do not reflect this week's surge in oil price futures.)
On the other side of the trade ledger, prices for U.S. exports rose eight-tenths of a percentage point in June, their largest monthly increase of the year. Prices of agricultural exports rose 2.4% in June, while prices for such non-agricultural goods as metals and chemicals advanced six-tenths of a percent.
