US January import prices rise as drag from overseas ebbs

Import price inflation Stateside edged higher in January as the cost of fuel sourced from overseas continued to push higher.

Prices for imports rose 0.4% month-on-month, according to the Department of Commerce, following a gain of 0.5% during the previous month.

Last month's price gains were more than the 0.3% which economists had penciled in.

December's rise was revised higher by one tenth of a percentage point to show a 0.5% month-on-month clip.

Fuel import prices increased 5.8% versus December, bringing the year over year rise to 57.6% while those of non-fuel imports dipped by 0.2% on the month.

Export prices on the other hand edged just slightly higher, advancing by 0.1% on the month.

On a year-on-year basis, total import prices were 3.7% ahead in January.

Commenting on the data, Blerina Uruci at Barclays Research said: "Overall import prices rose 3.7% y/y and non-petroleum import prices were up 0.3%, an improvement from the strong deflationary trend in 2014 and 2015.

"The recent upward trend suggests that the impulse from the dollar appreciation and the drag from weak global import prices have faded, leading us to expect import prices to firm further in the coming months; the recent pickup in import prices from industrialized trading partners provides further support to our view."