WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday that U.S. import price saw the largest monthly drop since August 2015, while export price saw the largest monthly decrease since January 2016.
The bureau said that U.S. import price index that declined 1.6 percent in November resulted from lower fuel prices, while the 0.9 percent decrease in U.S. exports price index was mainly due to lower prices of agricultural commodities like soybeans and nuts.
Over the year, import price increased 0.7 percent in November, while export price rose 1.8 percent, said the bureau.
As for imports, the prices of fuel imports decreased 11 percent in November, which were the largest monthly decline since the index fell 15.6 percent in January 2016, said the bureau.
Meanwhile, prices for nonfuel imports fell 0.3 percent in November. Over the past year, the price index for nonfuel imports increased 0.3 percent, driven by higher prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, consumer goods and automotive vehicles, said the bureau.
On the export side, the price index for agricultural exports rose 1.8 percent in November, which was the largest increase since the index rose 3.2 percent in March. Over the year, agricultural export prices declined 1.7 percent.
The bureau noted that soybeans prices dropped 10.7 percent while nut prices decreased 12.3 percent over the past year. These were also the primary factors for the decrease in overall agricultural prices, according to the bureau.
Besides, nonagricultural export prices fell 1 percent in November, which was the largest monthly decrease since December 2015.
