Softwood Lumber Pricing Drags Down the Canadian Industrial Product Price Index in August
Industrial Product Price Index: Flash estimates, August 2021
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) released today (9-15-21) its early/flash estimates of the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) for August. The final version will be released on September 29th. According to the early release, the IPPI decreased -0.3% month-over-month in August. However, year-over-year the IPPI was up 14.2%.
The month-over-month decrease was mainly due to lower prices for softwood lumber (-22.3%), which posted its third consecutive monthly decline after a record increase in May (+25.0%). For the first time since September 2019, softwood lumber was down year over year in August (-14.2%).
The decline in the IPPI was largely moderated by higher prices for meat, fish, and dairy products, as well as primary ferrous metal products. If lumber and other wood products were excluded from calculation, the IPPI would have posted a monthly increase of 0.7%.
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