According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the country's import price index dropped at a month-on-month pace of 0.4%.

Economists had pencilled in a dip of 0.1%.

Fuel import prices fell by 7.0% versus August, whilst those of non-fuel imports edged up by 0.1%.

Export prices meanwhile were down by 0.7%, as the cost of non-agricultural exports fell by 0.9%.

Agricultural export prices on the other hand rose by 0.6%.