US import prices rose for an eighth straight month in May despite a drop in fuel costs, with the year-on-year increase reaching its highest level in nearly three years, according to data on Friday. The Labour Department said import prices climbed 0.2 percent last month, confounding forecasts for a 0.7 percent decline and following April's revised 2.1 percent jump. In the year to May, import prices surged 12.5 percent, the largest gain since September 2008.
"This is simply reflecting the increase in import petroleum prices," said Anthony Karydakis, senior US economist at Commerzbank AG. The trend of higher energy prices was already being reversed with petroleum import prices falling 0.4 percent in May, the first decline since September 2010. Overall export prices rose 0.2 percent after a downwardly revised 0.9 percent gain. Analysts had been looking for a 0.3 percent gain. US consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in the year to April. But outside food and energy, the CPI climbed just 1.3 percent, below the central bank's presumed target of 2 percent or a bit below.
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