Statistics
Canada reported on Wednesday the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) remained unchanged m-o-m in July,
following a downwardly revised 0.1-per cent m-o-m drop (from flat m-o-m) in the previous month.
Economists had predicted
the IPPI to decrease 0.3 per cent m-o-m in July.
According to
the report, prices dropped in 11 out of 21 product categories,
led by lumber and other wood products (-3.4 per cent m-o-m), primary ferrous
metal products (-0.9 per cent m-o-m), and chemicals and chemical products (-0.7
per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, energy and petroleum products (+2.0 per cent
m-o-m), and plastic and rubber products (+1.4 per cent m-o-m) demonstrated the
biggest gains.
In y-o-y terms,
the IPPI surged 2.9 per cent in July, following an upwardly revised 2.9 per
cent soar (from +2.8 per cent) in June.
The report also
revealed that the prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating
in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), climbed 0.7 per
cent m-o-m in July after a downwardly revised 1.7 per cent m-o-m decline (from
-1.4 per cent) in the previous month. This marked the first monthly gain in the indicator in three
months and surprised economists, who had forecast a 0.7 per cent m-o-m
decrease. The advance in RMPI was primarily driven by an increase in
costs of crude energy products (+2.2 per cent m-o-m).
On a y-o-y basis, the RMPI jumped 4.1 per cent,
following a downwardly revised 7.2 per cent climb (from +7.5 per cent) in May.
This represented the weakest annual increase in three months.