Index of Commodity Prices March 2026

Preliminary estimates for March indicate that the index increased by 2.6 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after increasing by 1.6 per cent in February. The non-rural, rural and base metals subindices all increased in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index increased by 2.1 per cent in March.

Over the past year, the index has increased by 12.8 per cent in SDR terms. Increases in the price of gold, lithium, coking coal, and rural commodity prices have more than offset declines in iron ore and alumina. The index has increased by 3.8 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 increased by 3.5 per cent in March in SDR terms, to be 16.5 per cent higher 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 2026).

Details are in the attached table and graph.