Index of Commodity Prices May 2020

Release date:

Preliminary estimates for May indicate that the index increased by 1.8 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after increasing by 2.4 per cent in April (revised). The rural, base metals and non-rural sub-indices all increased in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index decreased by 1.7 per cent in May.

Over the past year, the index has decreased by 7.4 per cent in SDR terms, led by lower coal, iron ore, oil and alumina prices. The index has decreased by 2.5 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 increased by 2.8 per cent in May in SDR terms, to be 9.6 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 2020).