USA: import prices rise more sharply than expected

(CercleFinance.com) - Import prices in the USA rose much more sharply than expected in April due to a near-universal increase in the cost of imported goods, statistics released on Thursday show.


The Labor Department announced this morning that import prices rose by 0.9% last month, following a 0.6% increase in March. This is their biggest increase since March 2022.

By way of comparison, economists were anticipating a rise of just 0.2%.

While rising costs for petroleum products were the main reason for this stronger-than-expected statistic, various categories of goods saw their prices rise, which could rekindle fears of persistent inflation.

Prices of imported petroleum products rose by 2.4% in April, following a 5.4% jump in March, but the increase also concerned industrial materials (+2.7%) and agricultural food products (+2.2%).

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