Weights for the Index of Commodity Prices
New weights for the RBA Index of Commodity Prices apply with the release of the index for March on 3 April 2023. The index has been reweighted according to an average of export values in 2020/21 and 2021/22 (previously 2019/20 and 2020/21). The index has been rebased so that the 2021/22 average is 100 (previously 2020/21). Nickel was excluded from the index because its share of the value of commodity exports decreased to around 0.0 per cent (down from 0.3 per cent in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 average).
Changes to individual commodity weights were generally less than ½ percentage point, with the exception of the weight on beef and veal (which decreased by 1.2 percentage points), the weight on wheat (which increased by 1.2 percentage points), the weight on canola (which increased by 0.7 percentage points), the weight on metallurgical coal (which increased 1.7 percentage points), the weight on thermal coal (which increased by 2.1 percentage points), the weight on alumina (which decreased by 0.6 percentage points) and the weight on gold (which declined by 2.3 percentage points).
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] The list of data sources used in constructing the Index of Commodity Prices has been updated. Please refer to Sources of the Price Measures Used in the ICP for further information.
Details are in the attached table and graph.
| Weight(a) | ||
|---|---|---|
| From 1 April 2023 | 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023 | |
| Rural commodities | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| Wool | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Beef and veal | 2.5 | 3.7 |
| Wheat | 2.5 | 1.3 |
| Barley | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Canola | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Sugar | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Cotton | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Lamb and mutton | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| Base metals | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Aluminium | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Lead | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Copper | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Zinc | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Nickel | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Bulk commodities | 59.6 | 56.3 |
| Iron ore | 38.7 | 39.2 |
| Metallurgical coal | 12.4 | 10.7 |
| Thermal coal | 8.5 | 6.4 |
| Other resources | 27.8 | 31.5 |
| LNG | 13.8 | 14.3 |
| Crude oil | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| Alumina | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| Gold | 6.7 | 9.0 |
| Copper ore | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 |
|
(a) Commodity weights may not sum to subindex weights due to rounding
Sources: ABARES; ABS; RBA |
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Endnotes
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]