Richard Galanti, chief financial officer of Costco Wholesale Corp. , said lower freight rates should lead to price cuts at the members-only retailer, which imports more than 200,000 containers a year from Asia.
An International Monetary Fund study found that when ocean-freight rates double it causes inflation to rise by 0.7 percentage point.
Jonathan Ostry, a Georgetown University professor and a co-author of the study, said cutting shipping rates in half should reduce inflation by the same amount.
In the ocean-shipping spot market, where importers book containers without a contract, rates have dropped to $1,000 on some trans-Pacific routes.
But they say lower ocean shipping expenses will help in steadying prices.