The prices of imported goods purchased by U.S. consumers in January saw the biggest one-month increase ever recorded in data going back to 1989, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday, adding to worries that inflation appears to be rising again.
Overall import prices jumped 0.8 percent in January compared with the previous month, the largest increase since March 2022. Economists had expected import prices to fall by 0.1 percent.
The prices of finished consumer goods rose 1.1 percent, the biggest single-month jump since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started publishing single-month price changes in 1989.
Prices of medicinal, dental, and pharmaceutical materials climbed 4.1 percent. Imported auto prices increased 0.8 percent, the largest monthly increase since May 2011.
The price index for capital goods rose 0.4 percent, the largest one-month increase since April 2022.
One of the primary reasons import prices are tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the month consumer price index, is to monitor the impact they have on inflation. They are considered a forward indicator of domestic inflation since many inputs to domestic production and consumption are imported.
In the 12 months through January, import prices were down 1.3 percent. That’s a smaller year-over-year decline than the 2.4 percent recorded in December. This suggests that the disinflationary pressure that was coming from declining import prices—driven by dollar strength and weakening economies around the world—is declining.
Imported fuel prices jumped 1.2 percent in January after plunging in December. Food imports saw a 1.5 percent increase in January.
Excluding food and fuel, so-called core import prices rose 0.7 percent after being flat in December.
Exports from the U.S. saw a price rise of 0.8 percent.