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Economic news
18.03.2024

Canada’s producer prices soar 0.7 per cent in February

Statistics Canada announced on Monday the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) jumped 0.7 per cent m-o-m in February, following an unrevised 0.1 per cent m-o-m fall in the previous month. This marked the first monthly increase in IPPI since September 2023 (+0.5 per cent m-o-m).

Economists had predicted the IPPI to move up 0.1 per cent m-o-m in February.

According to the report, the February climb in the headline indicator was due to gains in prices in 9 out of 21 product categories, led by energy and petroleum products (+5.2 per cent m-o-m), miscellaneous products (+3.4 per cent m-o-m), beverages (+1.8 per cent m-o-m), and chemicals and chemical products (+1.6 per cent m-o-m). 

In y-o-y terms, the IPPI declined 1.7 per cent in February, following an unrevised 2.9 per cent plunge in January. This represented the fifth consecutive annual drop.

The report also showed that the prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), surged 2.1 per cent m-o-m in February after an unrevised 1.2 per cent m-o-m increase in the previous month. This was the second straight monthly advance in the indicator. The February gain in RMPI was primarily due to a soar in costs of crude energy products (+5.7 per cent m-o-m).

On a y-o-y basis, the RMPI tumbled 4.7 per cent, following a downwardly revised 6.5 per cent plunge (from -6.4 per cent) in January.

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