US import prices with smallest increase since February 2021

port in the United States

Petrol and food imports in particular cost significantly less in October than a month earlier.

(Photo: imago images/ZUMA Wire)

Washington There are increasing signs that high inflation in the USA is abating. After consumer and producer prices, import prices also rose more slowly in October. They increased by 4.2 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Department of Labor announced on Wednesday in Washington. This is the smallest increase in more than a year and a half. In September, the plus was even stronger at 6.0 percent.

Month-on-month, import prices fell 0.2 percent for the fourth straight month after a 1.1 percent drop in September. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected a decline that would be twice as strong. Petrol and food imports in particular cost significantly less in October than a month earlier.

Import prices provide early signals for the development of consumer prices, since sooner or later changes will also affect consumers. The inflation rate was 7.7 percent in October, after 8.2 percent in September. However, the stability target of the US central bank is still a long way off: the currency watchdogs are aiming for an inflation rate of 2.0 percent.

The Federal Reserve has therefore been raising the key interest rate in unusually large steps for months in order to keep inflation in check. Most recently, she increased it again by three-quarters of a percentage point. It is currently in a range of 3.75 to 4.00 percent. Leading central bankers have already signaled that they intend to raise interest rates further.

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