Index of Commodity Prices September 2014

Preliminary estimates for September indicate that the index declined by 2.4 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after rising by 0.2 per cent in August (revised). The largest contributor to the decline in September was the price of iron ore. The base metals and rural commodities subindices declined during the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 1.4 per cent in September.

Over the past year, the index has fallen by 16.8 per cent in SDR terms, largely driven by falls in the prices of bulk commodities. The index has fallen by 16.0 per cent in Australian dollar terms over the past year.

Consistent with 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 declined by 3.1 per cent in September in SDR terms, to be around 18 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).