Weights for the Index of Commodity Prices
New weights for the RBA Index of Commodity Prices will apply with the release of the index for March on 1 April 2016. The index will be reweighted according to an average of export values in 2013/14 and 2014/15 (previously 2012/13 and 2013/14). The index will be rebased so that the 2014/15 average is 100 (previously 2013/14).
Changes to individual commodity weights were generally less than ½ percentage point, with the exception of the weight on iron ore (which declined by 0.8 percentage points), the weight on liquefied natural gas (LNG; which increased by 0.7 percentage points) and the weight on beef and veal (which increased by 1.1 percentage points).
From 1 April 2016, preliminary estimates for LNG export prices for the most recent months will be based on market information. Price estimates will now also incorporate average export prices from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and data on LNG volumes and values from Bloomberg. For further details regarding the methodology used for constructing the index, please refer to ‘Changes to the RBA Index of Commodity Prices: 2013’ in the March 2013 issue of the Bulletin.[1]
Details are in the attached table.
| Weight | ||
|---|---|---|
| From 1 April 2016 | 1 April 2015 – 31 March 2016 | |
| Rural commodities | 13.4 | 12.6 |
| Wool | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Beef and veal | 4.1 | 3.0 |
| Wheat | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Barley | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| Canola | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| Sugar | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Cotton | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Lamb and mutton | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Base metals | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Aluminium | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| Lead | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Copper | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Zinc | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Nickel | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Bulk commodities | 54.4 | 55.5 |
| Iron ore | 33.9 | 34.7 |
| Metallurgical coal | 11.9 | 12.1 |
| Thermal coal | 8.6 | 8.7 |
| Other resources | 26.9 | 26.8 |
| LNG | 8.8 | 8.1 |
| Crude oil | 4.9 | 5.3 |
| Alumina | 3.5 | 3.1 |
| Gold | 7.1 | 7.6 |
| Copper ore | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 |
|
Sources: ABARES; ABS; RBA |
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Footnote
Note that ‘Changes to the RBA Index of Commodity Prices: 2013’ refers to average export values of 2010/11 and 2011/12 and is based using 2011/12 average is 100. [1]