| Sumario: | The article presents a report on the trends in the Locality of Origin (LOO) import price indexes, introduced by the International Price Program (IPP) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The motivation for producing price indexes by geographic region of origin is twofold. First, the types of products being traded differ across localities; therefore, price indexes across localities should exhibit different trends that could not otherwise be observed from the world goods price indexes. Second, the U.S. dollar's fluctuation against foreign currencies has an impact on internationally traded products. The addition of newly-published LOO import price indexes to data offered by the IPP enhances the set of price indexes available to measure different aspects of inflation in merchandise markets. In 2004, price indexes for imports from Mexico, Great Britain, and the Asia Near East have trended with world petroleum prices, while the indexes for China, the Pacific Rim, France, Germany, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been comparatively flat.
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