According to Statistics Canada, prices of products sold by Canadian manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), edged up 0.1 percent in September. Higher prices for chemicals and chemical products and energy and petroleum products were largely offset by 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), decreased 0.9 percent, primarily due to lower prices for crude energy products.
The IPPI edged up 0.1 percent in September, after falling 0.5 percent in August. Of the 21 major commodity groups, 10 were up, 7 were down and 4 were unchanged.
Compared with the same month a year earlier, the IPPI rose 6.2 percent in September, following a 5.7 percent increase in August.
The RMPI fell 0.9 percent in September, after decreasing 4.8 percent in August. Of the six major commodity groups, five were down and one was up. Metal ores, concentrates, and scrap (-1.1 percent) was another key contributor to the decline in the RMPI, particularly due to lower prices for waste and scrap of metal (-5.2 percent). This was the third consecutive monthly decrease in this commodity group.
The RMPI rose 14.6 percent over the 12-month period ending in September, following a 15.4 percent increase in August.