US import prices unchanged year-on-year in December

U.S. import prices were unchanged on a year-on-year basis in December after falling 0.1% in November, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday.

Last year's shutdown of the federal government prevented the collection of survey data for October, resulting in the BLS not publishing the monthly changes in import prices for October and November. Import prices gained 0.1% month-on-month in December.

The BLS also skipped the publishing of a detailed press release because of the compressed release schedule following the 43-day shutdown. It, however, noted that the recent three-day shutdown had not affected data collection for price indexes.