Index of Commodity Prices April 2014

Preliminary estimates for April indicate that the index declined by 1.3 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after declining by 2.3 per cent in March (revised). The largest contributors to the fall in April were declines in the prices of iron ore, coking coal and gold. The base metals and rural commodities subindices rose in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 3.9 per cent in April.

Over the past year, the index has declined by around 12½ per cent in SDR terms. The prices of many commodities in the index have fallen over this period. The index has risen by 0.3 per cent in Australian dollar terms over the past year, reflecting the depreciation of the Australian dollar over this period.

As indicated in 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 rose by 1.4 per cent in April in SDR terms, to be around 15 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’ (March 2014).