Import and export prices

U.S. import prices rose 0.3 percent in September following a 1.0-percent increase in August. Prices for U.S. exports advanced 0.6 percent in September, after rising 0.5 percent the previous month. Over the past year, import prices declined 1.1 percent and export prices fell 1.8 percent.

The U.S. terms of trade with China edged down 0.1 percent in September, the first monthly decline since the index fell 2.6 percent in April. In contrast, the index for U.S. terms of trade with China rose 0.4 percent over the past year. Terms of trade indexes measure the relative price of exports in terms of import prices. The index for China is calculated as the all-exports-to-China goods price index divided by the corresponding all-import goods price index on a scale of 100.