Goods from around the world are starting to get less expensive for American companies and consumers.

The U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday the cost of imported goods fell half a percent in June , dropping for the first time in a year.

The report said the decline was driven by sharp decreases in the price of imported oil and food. Imported oil prices slid 1.6 percent in June, while imported food prices dropped 1.9 percent.

The data supports earlier comments by the head of the U.S. central bank. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had called rising commodity prices a temporary problem.

The Fed has been keeping the benchmark U.S. interest rate near zero in attempt to make it easier to borrow money and bolster slow and uneven economic growth.

Despite the month-on-month drop in import prices, imports are still more expensive than they were a year ago. The Labor Department said, overall, the cost of imported goods were still 13.6 percent higher than in June 2010.

The Labor Department said the prices of U.S. exports gained one-tenth in June after a two-tenths of a percent increase the month before.