The news: Prices US companies pay foreign suppliers for metals rose 18% to 25% over the past year, and machinery rose 10%, before any duty.
Implications:
Supplier quotes: Foreign suppliers kept raising prices this year, so your duty is charged on a higher price.
Benchmark: You can check a supplier’s increase against the BLS index for that product and country.
The News
US import prices rose 1.1% in September after a 0.5% rise in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. They are up 8.1% from a year ago, the biggest 12-month gain since July 2022.
Fuel drove much of the monthly jump, but the rise has spread to the goods factories buy. Prices for everything except fuel rose 0.7% in September and 6.0% over the year, the most since April 2022, led by metals, machinery and other industrial supplies.
Why It Matters
BLS measures these prices before duties, so a supplier that absorbed part of a tariff would show up as a price cut. Instead, prices for everything except fuel haven’t fallen in a single month since August 2025. That means foreign suppliers are passing costs on, and any duty is then added to the higher price.
By The Numbers
Metals rose the fastest over the past year, followed by machinery and packaging materials, while finished consumer goods rose far less.
Metals and machinery led the rise in import prices over the past year. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Metals: Finished metal shapes rose 3.2% in September alone and 18.5% over the year. Raw and semi-finished metals are up 25.3%, not counting the steel tariffs that left buyers with the bill in June.
Machinery and computers: Prices rose 10.4% over the year. Capital goods rose 0.9% for the second straight month, led by computers, semiconductors and industrial machinery.
Packaging and other nonmetals: Boxes, belting, glass and similar goods rose 2.4% in September and 8.8% over the year.
By comparison, consumer goods other than cars rose 2.7% over the year and vehicles and parts 1.1%.
What It Costs
For example, a finished metal part that cost $100 at the foreign port a year ago would cost about $118.50 today if its price moved with the BLS index, by our math. A $100 machine would cost about $110.40. Because most US duties are charged as a percent of the price, the duty on each of those goes up too.
Who’s Exposed
By country, goods from Canada rose the most over the past year, followed by four Asian economies BLS tracks together (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong).
Goods from Canada and four Asian economies rose the most. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Canada: Prices rose 16.1% over the year. Energy drives much of that, but manufactured goods from Canada still rose 10.6%.
South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong: Prices rose 12.5% as a group. Taiwan on its own rose 8.8%.
Mexico, the EU and China: Manufactured goods from Mexico rose 2.5% and from the EU 3.6%. Prices from China rose 3.1% over the year, but September’s 0.7% gain was the largest monthly rise since December 2021.
What’s Next
BLS publishes October import prices on Nov. 17, and September’s figures can still be revised in each of the next three monthly releases.
Charts: US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
