WASHINGTON, Nov 13 - The price of goods imported into the United States rose less than expected last month and would have slipped a notch except for a spike in the cost of oil, a government report showed on Thursday. U.S. import prices rose 0.1 percent in October following a revised 0.4 percent drop a month earlier, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by expected import prices to rise 0.5 percent after a previously reported fall of 0.5 percent in September. In October, petroleum import prices climbed 2.3 percent, the fourth increase in the last five months. Excluding the latest oil price rise, import prices were down 0.1 percent last month. A 0.6 percent rise in vehicle and part import prices helped keep non-petroleum import prices from sliding even further. Excluding autos, the cost of imported consumer goods fell 0.1 percent. Capital goods prices were also down. Economists say a drop in the value of the U.S. dollar over the course of more than a year has helped push import prices higher. Over the last 12 months, non-petroleum imports prices were up 0.7 percent. That compares to a record drop of 5.4 percent that was recorded in the 12-month period that ended in January 2002. Export prices rose 0.3 percent in October, pushed up by a 2.5 percent increase in agricultural export prices.//