Statistics
Canada announced on Tuesday that the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) jumped
0.5 per cent m-o-m in March,
following an upwardly revised 0.6 per cent m-o-m gain (from +0.4 per cent m-o-m) in the previous month. This marked the
sixth consecutive monthly increase in IPPI.
Economists had predicted
the IPPI to rise 0.3 per cent m-o-m in March.
According to the
report, the March advance in the headline indicator was due to gains in 14 out of 21 product categories, led
by primary non-ferrous metal products (+3.8 per cent m-o-m), lumber and other
wood products (+3.1 per cent m-o-m), and furniture and fixtures (+2.6 per cent
m-o-m). Meanwhile, energy and petroleum products (-3.8 per cent m-o-m) had the
largest downward impact on the IPPI in March, followed by pulp and paper
products (-0.7 per cent m-o-m), and chemicals and chemical products (-0.6 per
cent m-o-m).
In y-o-y terms,
the IPPI soared 4.7 per cent in March, following an upwardly revised 5.1 per
cent climb (from +4.9 per cent) in February. This represented the weakest
annual increase in three months.
The report,
however, revealed that the prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers
operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), fell
1.0 per cent m-o-m in March after an unrevised
0.3 per cent m-o-m gain in
the previous month. This marked the first monthly
decrease in the indicator in four
months and surprised economists, who had projected a flat m-o-m performance. The drop in RMPI was attributable to decreases in costs of crude energy
products (-3.5 per cent m-o-m) and crop products (-3.3 per cent m-o-m).
On a y-o-y basis, the RMPI increased 3.9 per
cent, following a downwardly revised 9.2 per cent jump (from +9.3 per cent) in February.
This was the weakest annual advance in
four months.