US import prices fall more than twice as quickly than expected in November
US import prices slid last month more than twice as quickly than most analysts had been anticipating.
According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, in November the cost of goods purchased from overseas skidded lower by 1.6% month-on-month.
The median forecast from economists had been for a drop of 0.7%.
Fuel import prices declined by 11.0% on the month and those of non-fuel imports by 0.3%.
Export prices on the other hand were down by 0.9%, even as agricultural export prices jumped by 1.8%.
Although most of the drop in headline import prices should have been expected given the recent slide in crude oil futures, Blerina Uruci at Barclays Research did express surprise at the 0.2% month-on-month fall seen in core import prices, which exclude those for food and fuels.
That, she said, suggested less expensive energy was not the only driver behind the decrease seen in imported inflation.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests that in response to tariffs from the US, Chinese firms may be lowering prices in order to remain competitive in the US market. This would be consistent with monthly import price patterns recently [...]," she explained.
"In November, we saw some strong declines in import prices from US’s two other main trading partners, Canada (-3.4%) and Mexico (-1.4%) – we would attribute their weakness to the recent decline in energy prices and, to a lesser degree, to dollar strength versus the local currency."