Index of Commodity Prices February 2024

Preliminary estimates for February indicate that the index declined by 1.4 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after increasing by 1.9 per cent in January (revised). The non-rural, rural, and base metals sub-indices all declined in the past month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 0.1 per cent in February.

Over the past year, the index has declined by 11.0 per cent in SDR terms, led by lower thermal coal and liquified natural gas prices. The index has decreased by 6.7 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 declined by 3.6 per cent in February in SDR terms, to be 11.3 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 2023).