U.S. SEPT import prices fell 0.5 pct

Biz.Yahoo/Reuters ^ | October 9, 2003

[Starwind]

U.S. SEPT import prices fell 0.5 pct
Thursday October 9, 8:29 am ET

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Labor Department report
of U.S. import and export price changes by percent (unadjusted).
.                          Sept     Aug  Sept03/02
ALL IMPORTS                -0.5     0.1     0.8
Petroleum                  -5.2     2.4     1.2
Nonpetroleum                0.2    -0.3     0.9
Food, Feed, Drink           0.6    -0.2     2.3
Industrial Supplies        -1.3     0.5     4.4
Capital Goods              -0.3    -0.2    -1.3
Motor Vehicles,Parts       -0.1    unch     0.2
Consumer Goods ExAutos     unch    -0.1    -0.2
.                          Sept     Aug  Sept03/02
ALL EXPORTS                 0.4    unch     1.0
Agricultural                5.5    -1.1     5.7
Non-Agricultural           -0.1     0.1     0.6
Food, Feed, Drink           5.5    -1.3     5.2
Industrial Supplies         0.2     0.4     4.5
Capital Goods              -0.2    unch    -0.9
Motor Vehicles,Parts       unch    unch     0.7
Consumer Goods ExAutos      0.1    -0.2     0.2
The department reported Sept price indices (2000 base year
equals 100) of 96.3 for imports and 99.8 for exports.
FORECAST:
Reuters survey of U.S. economists forecast:
U.S. Sept import prices -0.2 pct
HISTORICAL COMPARISONS/NOTES:
Imports first decrease since May (-0.7). Exports largest
increase since Feb (0.6). Imports from Japan largest decrease
since April (-0.3).

[Starwind]

The full BLS report is at U.S. IMPORT AND EXPORT PRICE INDEXES - SEPTEMBER 2003

[Support Free Republic]

Strong Conservative Forums Help Prevent Candidates Like This From Winning Elections
	Finish Strong. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[Starwind]

Fyi...

[Starwind]

Here is a table from the report showing the history of various categories:

             Percent changes in import and export price indexes
                             by End Use category
                          -not seasonally adjusted-
                             IMPORTS                           EXPORTS             
                                                                              
    Month                                  Non-                 Agri-     Nonagri- 
                   All      Petroleum   petroleum      All     cultural   cultural 
                 Imports     Imports      Imports    Exports   Exports    Exports  
                                                                              
                                                                              
2002                                                                          
September          0.7         5.8          0.1        0.3       3.2        0.1 
October            0.0        -0.1          0.0       -0.1      -1.8        0.1 
November          -0.9        -8.2         -0.1        0.1       2.0       -0.1 
December           0.6         5.6          0.2       -0.2      -0.5       -0.2 
2003                                                                          
January            1.8        14.6          0.3        0.3       0.1        0.4 
February           1.7        11.3          0.3        0.6      -0.4        0.6 
March              0.6        -1.1          1.0        0.2      -0.4        0.3 
April             -3.1       -18.8         -1.0       -0.1       0.4       -0.1 
May               -0.7        -5.0         -0.2        0.1       2.5       -0.2 
June               0.9 r       5.4 r        0.4       -0.2 r    -0.5       -0.1 
July               0.5         5.1 r        0.1 r     -0.1       0.0       -0.1 r
August             0.1 r       2.4 r       -0.3 r      0.0 r    -1.1 r      0.1 r
September         -0.5        -5.2          0.2        0.4       5.5       -0.1 
                                                                              
September 2001-02 -0.4        12.0         -0.9       -0.2       6.0       -0.6 
September 2002-03  0.8         1.2          0.9        1.0       5.7        0.6 
                                                                              
r = revised to reflect late reports and corrections by respondents.

Particularly noteworthy are:

The decline in petroleum prices is consistent with the decline in actual use (US Sept oil demand declines 1.5 pct vs yr ago-EIA). Growing, recovering economies increase energy consumption. This lack of demand and lower prices indicates weak growth in very real physical terms.

That seems to be reinforced by lower prices for imported industrial supplies, capital goods, and auto parts. - Demand is weak, pricing power is diminishing.

This while the dollar is falling - lower prices paid in cheaper dollars.

Yet food, feed & drink prices are up - both import & export.

The US economy is producing less (in physical terms) and at lower prices, even in cheaper dollars (deflationary) but non-discretionary (people & animals gotta eat) food items have increased in price.

Note that our export and import prices have generally been falling of late (even as the dollar falls) and export prices rose in Sept only because ag export prices spiked. But overall, prices are falling, except for non-discretionary food items.