Canada’s Industrial Product Price Index Inches Higher in March; Raw Materials Price Index Declines
Industrial product and raw materials price indexes, March 2023
Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported Wednesday (4-19-23) that prices of products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), inched up 0.1% month-over-month in March, following a 0.6% decline in February. Year-over-year, the IPPI was down 1.8%. Excluding energy and petroleum products, the IPPI was up 0.4% on a monthly basis but down 0.1% year-over-year.
StatCan is reporting that prices for softwood lumber were down 8.1% month-over-month in March, the result of increasing interest rates and a slowing of the residential housing markets in the US and Canada. (US housing starts were down 17.2% year-over-year in March.) Year-over-year, prices for softwood lumber were 59.4% lower.
The prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), declined 1.7% on a monthly basis in March—the fifth consecutive month of declines. The RMPI was down 16.5% year-over-year.
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