According to Statistics Canada, prices for products sold by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), edged down 0.1 percent in December, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products and primary non-ferrous metal products.
Prices for raw materials purchased by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), decreased 0.9 percent, primarily due to lower prices for crude energy products.
The IPPI edged down 0.1 percent in December, following a 1.4 percent increase in November. Of the 21 major commodity groups, 9 were down, 8 were up and 4 were unchanged.
The IPPI rose 2.2 percent over the 12-month period ending in December, after increasing 2.7 percent in November.
The RMPI decreased 0.9 percent in December, following a 5.4 percent increase in November. Of the six major commodity groups, four were down and two were up.
The RMPI rose 6.2 percent year over year in December, following a 13.9 percent gain in November. Prices for metal ores, concentrates and scrap increased 8.8 percent compared with December 2016, continuing an upward trend that began in July 2016.