Index of Commodity Prices May 2013

Preliminary estimates for May indicate that the index fell by 2.6 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after falling by 0.9 per cent in April (revised). The largest contributors to the decline in May were falls in the prices of iron ore, gold and coal. The prices of many rural commodities and base metals also declined in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index rose by 1.7 per cent in May.

Over the past year, the index has fallen by 8.6 per cent in SDR terms. Much of this fall has been due to declines in the prices of coking coal, iron ore and thermal coal. The index has fallen by 9.9 per cent in Australian dollar terms over the past year.

As indicated in previous releases, preliminary estimates for iron ore, coking coal and thermal coal export prices are being used for recent months, based on market information. Using spot prices for these commodities, the index declined by 5.3 per cent in May in SDR terms, to be 9.3 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.