U.S. import prices rose sharply in August as higher costs for capital goods, industrial materials and consumer products outweighed another decline in imported fuel prices, adding to evidence that inflation pressure in internationally traded goods has broadened beyond energy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that prices for U.S. imports increased 0.7% in August after declining 0.3% in July. July’s decline was revised from the 0.4% drop initially reported. Import prices had also fallen 0.3% in June, making August the first monthly increase since May.

The August gain was stronger than economists had anticipated. A Reuters poll had projected a 0.4% increase, meaning the reported advance exceeded the consensus estimate by three-tenths of a percentage point. The surprise was concentrated in nonfuel goods rather than energy, an important distinction for assessing how persistent the rise in imported inflation could become.

Over the 12 months through August, overall import prices increased 7.0%, accelerating from the previous month and marking the largest year-over-year gain since the index rose 7.7% in the 12 months ended August 2022. The annual increase represents a significant change from August 2025, when import prices had been declining on a year-over-year basis.

Nonfuel import prices increased 0.8% in August after rising 0.3% in July. They were 5.5% higher than a year earlier, the biggest 12-month increase since May 2022. BLS said higher prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, capital goods and consumer goods excluding automobiles were the principal drivers of the monthly advance.

The breadth of the nonfuel increase matters because it indicates that imported-cost pressure is reaching categories closely connected with U.S. manufacturing, technology investment and household consumption. Unlike a temporary swing concentrated in oil or natural gas, increases across machinery, electronics, industrial inputs and consumer products can affect a wider range of corporate purchasing decisions and profit margins.

Prices for imported nonfuel industrial supplies and materials rose 2.0% in August, reversing a 0.9% decline in July. BLS attributed the increase primarily to higher prices for finished metal shapes, advanced-manufacturing products and finished nonmetal materials. Those inputs can feed into production costs for industries ranging from construction and machinery to electronics and other manufactured goods.

Capital goods import prices increased 0.9% during the month. Higher prices for computers, peripherals and semiconductors, industrial and service machinery, and telecommunications equipment contributed to the rise. The category is particularly relevant as U.S. companies continue to invest heavily in computing infrastructure, automation, data centers and other technology-intensive equipment.

Reuters noted that prices for imported nonelectrical machinery rose 1.2% for a second consecutive month. Persistent increases in machinery and technology-related imports could raise the cost of business investment if companies are unable to offset those increases through supplier negotiations, currency movements, productivity improvements or changes in sourcing.

Imported consumer goods excluding automobiles increased 0.5% in August. Prices for imported automotive vehicles, parts and engines were unchanged. The consumer-goods increase followed recent declines and adds another potential channel through which international price pressure could eventually reach retail markets, although the relationship between import prices and final consumer prices is neither immediate nor one-for-one.

Imported food, feed and beverage prices edged up 0.1% after increasing 0.7% in July. BLS said higher prices for fish and shellfish, bakery and confectionery products, cane and beet sugar, and distilled alcoholic beverages were partly offset by declines in meat and some other animal and vegetable products.

Fuel imports provided the principal offset to the broader August increase. Fuel import prices fell 0.1% after dropping 6.6% in July and 3.7% in June. Over the three months through August, imported fuel prices declined 10.2%, their largest three-month decrease since the period ended May 2025.

Within fuel, natural-gas import prices fell 1.0% in August, more than offsetting a 0.1% increase in petroleum and petroleum-product prices. Monthly weakness, however, masks a much stronger year-over-year comparison. Overall fuel import prices were 26.8% higher than in August 2025, while petroleum and petroleum products were up 27.3% and imported natural-gas prices were 102.6% higher.

The contrast between falling fuel prices over the latest three months and sharply higher energy prices over the full year illustrates the importance of comparison periods in interpreting the report. Energy had contributed heavily to earlier increases, but August’s 0.7% overall rise occurred even though the fuel component edged lower. That shifts attention toward the 0.8% increase in nonfuel imports as a more significant signal from the latest monthly data.

The geographic breakdown also pointed to broad price movements among major U.S. trading partners. Prices for imports from China increased 1.0% in August, the largest monthly advance since BLS began publishing the series in January 2004. China-origin import prices were 3.0% higher than a year earlier.

Import prices from the European Union rose 0.9% in August. Prices for Japanese imports increased 0.2%, while prices for goods from Mexico edged up 0.1%. Canada moved in the opposite direction, with import prices declining 0.8% after falling 2.3% in July.

The China figure is notable because U.S. import-price data can capture changes in prices charged by foreign suppliers while excluding the import duties paid at the border. A sustained increase in supplier prices therefore represents a different source of cost pressure from tariff changes themselves.

That methodological distinction is especially important when using the report to assess the inflation consequences of trade policy. BLS states that its Import and Export Price Indexes exclude duties. The indexes are designed in part to serve as deflators for the foreign-trade component of the national accounts, where taxes such as import duties are treated separately.

As a result, a tariff imposed on an imported product does not mechanically appear as an equivalent increase in the BLS import-price index. Foreign suppliers may adjust their pre-duty prices in response to tariffs or other market conditions, and those adjustments can be reflected in the data, but the tariff itself is not included. The August report therefore measures movements in international transaction prices rather than the complete landed cost faced by an importer.

The indexes are also not seasonally adjusted, another reason to interpret individual monthly movements alongside longer-term trends. The 7.0% annual increase and the 5.5% rise in nonfuel import prices provide a broader view of the acceleration that has developed over the past year.

Export prices strengthened as well. Prices for U.S. exports rose 0.6% in August after declining 1.4% in July. They were 8.6% higher than a year earlier, showing that higher prices in traded goods are affecting both sides of U.S. international commerce.

Agricultural export prices increased 0.5% in August after rising 0.4% in July. BLS said the agricultural index has not recorded a monthly decline since December 2025. Over the past year, agricultural export prices increased 5.8%, their largest 12-month gain since December 2022.

Higher prices for corn and animal feed outweighed lower meat prices during August. On a year-over-year basis, BLS cited corn, soybeans, oilseeds and food oils, and animal feeds among the main contributors to the rise in agricultural export prices.

Nonagricultural export prices increased 0.7% after falling 1.6% in July and 0.8% in June. They were 8.9% above their August 2025 level. Prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials rose 1.4% during August, with higher petroleum and nonferrous-metal prices outweighing lower natural-gas prices.

Export capital-goods prices increased 0.2%, reflecting gains in telecommunications equipment, industrial and service machinery, and computers, peripherals and semiconductors. Prices for exported automotive vehicles, parts and engines increased 0.3%, while consumer-goods export prices excluding automobiles were unchanged.

The combination of rising import and export prices also affected U.S. terms-of-trade measures, which compare changes in export prices with changes in import prices for individual trading relationships. The U.S. terms-of-trade index with China declined 2.1% in August as export prices to China fell while import prices from China increased.

The terms-of-trade index with Japan fell 0.5%, and the index with the European Union declined 0.4%. By contrast, U.S. terms of trade improved 2.4% with Canada and 1.1% with Mexico. These measures do not describe trade volumes or balances, but they indicate changes in the relative purchasing power of U.S. exports versus imports.

International transportation prices showed a different pattern. Import air passenger fares dropped 11.2% in August after falling 11.0% in July, while import air-freight prices increased 1.8%. Compared with a year earlier, import air passenger fares were still 13.2% higher and air-freight prices were up 27.0%.

Export air passenger fares fell 4.3% in August, while export air-freight prices rose 2.8%. Export air-freight prices were 18.1% higher than a year earlier, their strongest 12-month increase since September 2022.

For financial markets and policymakers, the key signal from the August data is the strength of nonfuel import prices. Falling monthly fuel costs might normally be expected to restrain the headline index, yet increases across industrial supplies, capital goods and consumer products were large enough to produce a 0.7% overall gain.

The import-price report does not by itself determine the trajectory of consumer inflation. Businesses can absorb higher input costs through lower margins, change suppliers, reduce other expenses or pass only part of an increase to customers. Exchange rates, demand conditions, inventories, shipping expenses, tariffs and domestic competitive pressures can also alter how movements in border prices translate into the prices households ultimately pay.

Nevertheless, the August data add to evidence that the external-price environment has become less benign than it was a year ago. The 7.0% annual increase in total import prices, combined with a 5.5% rise excluding fuel, indicates that the acceleration cannot be explained solely by energy.

The stronger-than-expected monthly increase also raises the importance of upcoming readings. A continuation of large nonfuel gains would suggest imported inflation is becoming more persistent, while renewed declines would indicate August represented a temporary reversal following the decreases recorded in June and July.

BLS is scheduled to publish September import and export price data on October 16. Markets will be watching whether capital goods, industrial inputs and consumer imports continue to rise, whether fuel prices resume contributing positively to the headline index, and whether the unusually large August increase in prices of imports from China persists.

For now, the August report shows a clear shift from the previous two months: overall import prices returned to growth, the increase exceeded economists’ expectations, and the strongest pressure came from nonfuel categories with direct relevance to business investment and consumer supply chains. With annual import-price inflation reaching its fastest pace in four years, international costs remain an important component of the U.S. inflation outlook.