US imports and exports fall in September

U.S. export prices fell 0.7% month-on-month in September, beating market expectations for a 0.4% decline following a revised 0.9% decline in August.

US imports and exports fall in September

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the data on Wednesday.

Nonfarm export prices fell 0.9%, the most significant decline since October 2023, as lower prices for nonfarm industrial supplies and materials and automotive vehicles more than offset higher prices for capital goods, consumer goods, and nonfarm food.

Conversely, agricultural export prices rose 0.6%, as higher prices for nuts, other food preparations, meat, wheat, and corn more than offset lower soybean prices.

In the third quarter, export prices fell 1.1%, the most significant quarterly decline since December 2023.

On a year-over-year basis, export prices fell 2.1%, the most significant decline since January

Also, in September, U.S. import prices fell 0.4% from the previous month, extending a revised 0.2% decline in August, which was in line with market expectations and marked the sharpest drop since the start of the year.

The decline was attributed mainly to a 7% drop in the cost of fuel imports and a 7.1% drop in the cost of oil imports.

Meanwhile, non-fuel import prices rose 0.1 percent for the third consecutive month, as a 1.1 percent increase in the purchase cost of non-fuel industrial supplies and materials and a 0.2 percent increase in the price of consumer goods offset a 1.5 percent decline in the cost of food imports.

Import prices fell 0.1 percent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, the first decline since February.