Higher input costs are pressuring U.S. companies to raise prices—a potential precursor to more consumer inflation—but shoppers are resisting their efforts to do so.

Businesses are facing higher costs for everything from fuel and freight hauling to steel to accounting services. Input price increases have outstripped consumer price increases since late 2016, with some pipeline costs rising at two or three times the rate of consumer inflation, according to Labor Department data released on Wednesday.

The...