Statistics
Canada reported on Monday that the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) increased
0.4 per cent m-o-m in June,
following an unrevised 0.5 per cent
m-o-m drop in the previous month. This marked
the first monthly gain in IPPI
in three months.
Economists had forecast
the IPPI to edge up 0.1 per cent m-o-m in June.
According to
the report, the June rise in the headline indicator was due to gains in 11 out of 21 product categories, led
by primary non-ferrous metal products (+2.8 per cent m-o-m), meat, fish and
dairy products (+2.2 per cent m-o-m), and clothing, footwear and accessories (+1.6
per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, the primary ferrous metal products (-2.4 per cent
m-o-m), electrical, electronic, audiovisual and
telecommunications products (-1.7 per cent m-o-m), and miscellaneous products (-1.3
per cent m-o-m) categories demonstrated the steepest decreases.
In y-o-y terms,
the IPPI jumped 1.7 per cent in June, following an unrevised 1.2 per cent surge in May. This represented the first acceleration in annual advance in five months.
The report,
however, showed that the prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers
operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), soared
2.7 per cent m-o-m in June after a downwardly revised 0.7 per cent m-o-m decline
(from -0.4 per cent) in the previous month. This was the first monthly gain in the indicator in four months and surprised economists, who had expected a 0.1 per
cent m-o-m slip.
The climb
in RMPI was primarily attributable to sharp
increases in costs of crude
energy products (+6.8 per cent m-o-m), prices of metal ores, concentrates and
scrap (+1.4 per cent m-o-m), and prices for animals and animal products (+2.0
per cent m-o-m).
On a y-o-y
basis, the RMPI went up 1.1 per cent, following a downwardly revised 3.2 per
cent fall (from -2.8 per cent) in May. This was the first annual increase in three months.