Index of Commodity Prices October 2024

Preliminary estimates for October indicate that the index increased by 4.1 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after decreasing by 3.3 per cent in September (revised). The non-rural, rural, and base metal subindices all increased in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index increased by 4.0 per cent in October.

Over the past year, the index has decreased by 7.8 per cent in SDR terms, led by lower iron ore and coking coal prices. The index has decreased by 11.1 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 index, the index increased by 7.2 per cent in October in SDR terms, to be 9.7 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 2024).

Details are in the attached table and graph.