Index of Commodity Prices July 2016

Release date:

Preliminary estimates for July indicate that the index increased by 4.1 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after declining by 0.6 per cent in June (revised). The increase was led by the prices of the bulk commodities, LNG and gold. Both the base metals and rural subindices increased in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index rose by 1.1 per cent in July.

Over the past year, the index has fallen by 2.0 per cent in SDR terms and by 3.7 per cent in Australian dollar terms.

Consistent with previous releases, preliminary estimates for iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal and LNG export prices are being used for the most recent months, based on market information. Using spot prices for the bulk commodities, the index rose by 8.3 per cent in July in SDR terms, to be 3.5 per cent higher 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 2016).