WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- An index for U.S. import prices fell 3% in September -- the second consecutive month of declines -- and the largest decline since the index fell 3.1% in April 2003, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were looking for a 2.9% decline for September.
Petroleum prices fell 9% -- the largest decrease since October 2006. Natural gas prices fell 15.6% for September, but are up 43.5% over the past 12 months.
Excluding all fuels, import prices fell 0.5% in September - the first decrease since February 2007. Meanwhile, the import price index for foods, feeds and beverages fell 1.7% in September -- the largest decline since February 2006.
Overall import prices were up 14.5% over the past 12 months.
August's import price index was revised to a decline of 2.6% from a prior estimate of a 3.7% fall.
In September, U.S. export prices fell 1% -- the second consecutive month of declines after increasing for 21 consecutive months.
U.S. agricultural export prices fell 0.3% in September. Non-agricultural export prices fell 1% -- the largest one-month decline since the index was first published monthly in December 1998.
