WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - U.S import prices recorded their biggest one-month drop since 1988 in October as costs for imported oil plunged for the third consecutive month, the Department of Labor said on Friday.
Overall import prices declined 4.7 percent after falling by a revised 3.3 percent in September. But for the 12 months through October import prices were still up 6.7 percent.
Petroleum prices tumbled 16.7 percent after falling a revised 10.2 percent the previous month. October's drop in petroleum import prices was the largest since April 2003, the Department said, highlighting the economic downturn in the United States and elsewhere that has depressed demand for oil.
Prices for U.S. exports slipped 1.9 percent in October, declining for the third straight month, after easing a revised 0.8 percent in September. October's fall in export prices was the largest one-month decline since the index was first published in December 1988, the Department of Labor said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast import prices dropping 4.2 percent and export prices easing 1.0 percent in October. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by James Dalgleish)