U.S. data also show large decline in industrial supplies Prices of goods and services imported into the United States fell 4.2% in December, as the price for imported petroleum fell 21.4% and non-petroleum imports fell 1.1%, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Prices of nonfuel imports fell 1.1%. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had expected an overall decline in import prices of 5%. In the past 12 months, import prices are down a record 9.3%, including a 47% drop in petroleum prices. Prices for industrial supplies and materials were down a record 26.7% in 2008. The prices that U.S. producers received for their exports also fell, dropping 2.3% in December. In the past 12 months, export prices are down 3.2% -- the largest decline since 1998. Import prices fell a revised 7% in November, while export prices retreated 3.4%. Details Import and export prices have fallen for five straight months, a dramatic turnaround from an earlier string of data that had pointed toward inflation. Analysts had expected a hefty drop in December due to ongoing declines in energy prices. Over the past quarter, import prices have fallen 16.2% -- the largest three-month drop since the data were first published in September 1982. For exports, prices have fallen 7.5% over the quarter, the largest three-month decline since the data were first published in September 1983. Prices fell for imports from every major U.S. trading partner except Japan, whose imports cost 0.2% more, and Mexico, whose imports cost 0.5% more. Prices of Canadian imports fell 3.2%, while prices of British imports decreased 4.2%; and prices of imports from the European Union dropped 1.7%. Prices of exported agricultural products fell 6.5% in December, while prices of all other exports dropped 1.9%.

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