According to Statistics Canada, prices for products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), rose 1.2 percent in May, driven mainly by higher prices for meat, fish and dairy products as well as energy and petroleum products. Prices for raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), increased 16.4 percent, mainly on higher crude oil prices.
In May, the IPPI rose 1.2 percent, after four consecutive months of decline. This was the first increase in 2020 for the IPPI. The IPPI excluding energy and petroleum products was up 0.8 percent. Of the 21 major commodity groups, 6 were up, 11 were down and 4 were unchanged.
The RMPI rose 16.4 percent on a monthly basis in May, after four straight months of decline. Of the six major commodity groups, five were up and one was down.
Compared with May 2019, the RMPI decreased 24.3 percent, led mostly by lower prices for crude energy products (-50.9 percent).