Led by Lumber and Other Wood Products, Canadian Industrial Product Price Index Increases 1.6% in March

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) is reporting that in March, the Industrial Product Price index (IPPI) increased 1.6% month-over-month and 10% year-over-year. This marks the fourth consecutive monthly increases in the IPPI. Excluding energy and petroleum products, the IPPI was up 1.3%. Among the 21 major commodity groups 14 were up, 6 were down, and 1 was unchanged. Among the major commodity groups, the lumber and other wood products category contributed the most to the gain in the IPPI, up 10.2% from February and up 68.2% from March 2020. Softwood lumber (+11.9%), veneer and plywood (+20.1%), and reconstituted wood products (which include medium-density fiberboard [MDF]) (+11.6%) all increased. The price of Canadian lumber is influenced significantly by housing demand in the United States, where, seasonally adjusted residential housing starts rose 19.4% in March compared with February. In Canada, seasonally adjusted housing starts were up 21.6% in March.