According to Statistics Canada, prices for products sold by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), decreased 0.5 percent in August, mainly due to lower prices for primary non-ferrous metal products. Prices for raw materials purchased by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), fell 4.6 percent, largely reflecting lower prices for crude energy products.
The IPPI fell 0.5 percent in August, following a 0.2 percent decrease in July. Of the 21 major commodity groups, 12 were down, 7 were up and 2 were unchanged.
The IPPI rose 5.8 percent over the 12-month period ending in August, after increasing 6.7 percent in July. The gain in the IPPI was widespread; only meat, fish and dairy products were down compared with August 2017.
The RMPI declined 4.6 percent in August, after increasing 0.7 percent in July. This was the largest decline in the RMPI since December 2015. Of the six major commodity groups, four were down and two were up. Prices for metal ores, concentrates and scrap (-3.9 percent) were down compared with July.
Compared with the same month a year earlier, the RMPI rose 15.5 percent in August, following a 22.2 percent increase in July.