MONTHLY STATISTICAL RELEASE Index of Commodity Prices Release date: 1 July 2008

Preliminary estimates for June indicate that the Index rose by 7.9 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, following an increase of 7.0 per cent (revised) in May. The largest contributors to the rise in June were increases in the prices of coking coal, iron ore, thermal coal and wheat (see below). The prices of nickel, lead and zinc fell. In Australian dollar terms, the Index rose by 7.2 per cent in June following an increase of 4.0 per cent (revised) in May.

As indicated in previous months’ releases, the export price data available do not yet fully reflect the strong increases in prices that have occurred for coking coal, iron ore and thermal coal. As a result, preliminary estimates have been incorporated into the Index for April, May and June for these commodities. In previous years, contract price changes have passed through to export prices over several months, and this is also expected to occur this year. The preliminary estimates included for April, May and June incorporate around three-quarters of the anticipated total increase in prices for these commodities. The preliminary estimates will be subject to review as more data become available.

The breakdown of the weights used in the index are set out in the Bulletin for October 2003.

Details are in the attached table and graph.

Table: Historical Data Table - XLS 46K

Click to view larger

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