Canadian factory prices eased twice as much as expected in September, falling 0.6 percent instead of the forecast 0.3 percent, on a slowdown in energy and metals prices, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.
Prices factories received for their goods rose 4.6 percent in September compared with the same month last year, but at a weaker pace than in the previous four months, Statscan said.
The price of raw materials used by factories accelerated for the seventh month in a row, it added. But the 0.3 percent rise from August was well below average market expectations of a rise of 1.5 percent.
Prices for petroleum and coal products continued to have a major influence on the 12-month change, rising 28.3 percent from September 2003. Excluding petroleum and coal, the industrial product price index would have only risen 3.0 percent, year-on-year, rather than 4.6 percent.
Raw materials cost factories "substantially" more, as they paid 25.0 percent more for their inputs than they did in September last year. This was the largest 12-month gain since June 2000 when raw materials prices surged 27.2 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.