U.S. Import Prices Rise 7.0%, Export Prices Climb 8.6% YoY in August 2026

U.S. import prices rose 0.7% in August 2026, reversing a 0.3% decline in July, while export prices advanced 0.6% after falling 1.4% the prior month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on September 16. The annual picture is the story: import prices are up 7.0% from August 2025 and export prices are up 8.6%, a sharp turn from a year earlier, when import prices had slipped 0.3% over 12 months and export prices had risen 3.2%. August's import gain came entirely from nonfuel goods, which climbed 0.8% and more than offset a small 0.1% dip in fuel prices.

Import Prices: Nonfuel Goods Carry the Month

Nonfuel import prices increased 0.8% in August after a 0.3% advance in July, and they are up 5.5% from August 2025, compared with a 0.5% gain over the prior 12-month period. The monthly increase was driven by nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, and consumer goods excluding automotives. Over the year, the gains are broad-based: capital goods, nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, consumer goods, foods, feeds, and beverages, and automotive vehicles, parts, and engines all contributed to the 12-month rise.

The category detail shows where August's pressure was concentrated:

• Nonfuel industrial supplies and materials: up 2.0%, after a 0.9% decrease in July, led by finished metals shapes and advanced manufacturing as well as finished nonmetals such as boxes, belting, and glass
• Capital goods: up 0.9%, on higher prices for computers, peripherals, and semiconductors, industrial and service machinery, and telecommunications equipment
• Consumer goods, excluding automotives: up 0.5%
• Foods, feeds, and beverages: up 0.1%, following a 0.7% increase in July
• Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines: unchanged

The composition matters. BLS attributed the August rise in nonfuel import prices to higher prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, capital goods, and consumer goods excluding automotives.

Fuel Imports: The Spring Surge Has Cooled

Fuel import prices edged down 0.1% in August, following a 6.6% decrease in July and a 3.7% decline in June. Over the 3 months ended in August, import fuel prices fell 10.2%. Within the month, natural gas prices dropped 1.0%, more than offsetting a 0.1% uptick in petroleum and petroleum products.

That retreat follows a steep run-up earlier in the year. The monthly path of fuel import prices from March through August 2026 shows the scale of the move:

• March: up 10.2%
• April: up 18.9%
• May: up 12.1%
• June: down 3.7%
• July: down 6.6%
• August: down 0.1%

Even after three consecutive monthly declines, fuel import prices remain 26.8% above their August 2025 level. Petroleum and petroleum products are up 27.3% over 12 months, and import natural gas prices have more than doubled, rising 102.6% over the same period. In other words, the three-month pullback has trimmed only part of the spring spike, and the level of energy import costs stays well above where it stood a year ago.

Export Prices: A Rebound After a Two-Month Slide

Export prices rose 0.6% in August after declines of 1.4% in July and 0.7% in June. Both agricultural and nonagricultural exports contributed. The export index stands at 166.2, still below the 168.8 reading posted in May 2026, so the August gain recovers only part of the summer pullback. On a 12-month basis, export prices are up 8.6%, faster than the 7.0% gain for imports.

• Agricultural exports: up 0.5% in August after a 0.4% increase in July; up 5.8% from August 2025, with higher prices for corn, soybeans, oilseeds and food oils, and animal feeds driving the annual rise
• Nonagricultural exports: up 0.7% after declines of 1.6% in July and 0.8% in June; up 8.9% over 12 months
• Nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials: up 1.4% after a 4.0% decrease the previous month, as higher petroleum and nonferrous metals prices more than offset lower natural gas prices
• Capital goods: up 0.2%, led by telecommunications equipment, industrial and service machinery, and computers, peripherals, and semiconductors
• Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines: up 0.3%
• Consumer goods, excluding automotives: unchanged

The 8.9% annual gain in nonagricultural export prices, against 3.1% in the year to August 2025.

Trading Partners and Terms of Trade

Price moves diverged by country in August. On the import side, prices of goods from China rose 1.0%, driven by computer and electronic product manufacturing, and are up 3.0% over 12 months. On the export side, prices of goods shipped to China fell 1.1%, though they remain 4.4% higher than a year ago. The combination pushed the U.S. terms of trade index with China down 2.1%, following a 0.7% decline in July, meaning U.S. exports buy fewer Chinese imports than they did a month earlier.

Import prices rose from most major trading partners in August, with Canada the exception:

• European Union: up 0.9%
• China: up 1.0%
• Japan: up 0.2%, after decreases of 0.2% in July and 0.5% in June
• Mexico: up 0.1%
• Canada: down 0.8%, after a 2.3% decline in July

Terms of trade indexes moved in opposite directions across partners:

• Canada: up 2.4%
• Mexico: up 1.1%
• European Union: down 0.4%, after a 1.8% drop in July
• Japan: down 0.5%
• China: down 2.1%

The North American gains reflect export prices outpacing import prices. Prices of exports to Canada advanced 1.6% while prices of imports from Canada fell 0.8%, and prices of exports to Mexico rose 1.3% against a 0.1% rise in prices of imports from Mexico.

Transportation Services

Airfares pulled back while freight costs kept climbing:

• Import air passenger fares: down 11.2% in August after an 11.0% decline in July, yet still up 13.2% over the past year
• Import air freight: up 1.8% in August and up 27.0% over 12 months
• Export air passenger fares: down 4.3% after a 0.1% increase in July; up 5.7% from August 2025
• Export air freight: up 2.8% in August and up 18.1% over the past year

Air freight costs are rising faster than goods prices on both sides of the ledger, while the drop in passenger fares is a services move that sits apart from goods prices.

Reading the Monthly Signal

The August monthly moves themselves are ordinary. The 0.7% rise in import prices registers at 0.6 sigma and the 0.6% rise in export prices at 0.3 sigma relative to each series' own history of monthly changes, well inside normal variation. What stands out is the accumulation: the year-over-year rates of 7.0% for imports and 8.6% for exports reflect a string of gains from February through May. The monthly path of overall import prices shows how the annual rate was built:

• February: up 1.0%
• March: up 0.9%
• April: up 2.3%
• May: up 1.8%
• June: down 0.3%
• July: down 0.3%
• August: up 0.7%

One data caveat applies to the longer comparisons: some October and November 2025 values are not available because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations, so the monthly series has gaps for those months, although the August year-over-year figures are published in full.

What to Watch

The September 2026 Import and Export Price Indexes are scheduled for release on Friday, October 16, 2026. The decisive figure will be nonfuel import prices. A second consecutive gain near August's 0.8% would confirm that price pressure has migrated from energy into metals, capital goods, and consumer goods, and would reinforce the 5.5% annual nonfuel rate. A flat or negative reading would suggest August was a one-month catch-up. On the fuel side, the question is whether the monthly declines resume after August's 0.1% dip or whether fuel import prices settle at a level still 26.8% above a year earlier.