Index of Commodity Prices April 2015

Preliminary estimates for April indicate that the index declined by 3.3 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after declining by 2.6 per cent in March (revised). The largest contributor to the decline in April was the price of iron ore. The base metals and rural commodities subindices rose during the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 3.6 per cent in April.

Over the past year, the index has fallen by 20.5 per cent in SDR terms, largely driven by falls in the prices of bulk commodities. The index has fallen by 14.4 per cent in Australian dollar terms over the past year.

Consistent with previous releases, preliminary estimates for iron ore, coking coal and thermal coal export prices are being used for the most recent months, based on market information. Using spot prices for these commodities, the index declined by 3.9 per cent in April in SDR terms, to be around 23 per cent lower over the past year.

For further details regarding the construction of the index, please refer to ‘Changes to the RBA Index of Commodity Prices: 2013’ in the March 2013 issue of the Bulletin and ‘Weights for the Index of Commodity Prices’ (April 2015).