Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday the Industrial Product Price Index
(IPPI) fell 0.4 per cent m-o-m in November, following an upwardly revised 0.9
per cent m-o-m decline (from -1.0 per cent m-o-m) in the previous month.
Economists had forecast the IPPI to decrease 0.6 per cent m-o-m in November.
According to the report, the November slip in the headline indicator was
due to decreases in prices in 12 out of 21 product categories, led by energy
and petroleum products (-2.3 per cent m-o-m), primary ferrous metal products (-1.4
per cent m-o-m), chemicals and chemical products (-0.9 per cent m-o-m), and plastic
and rubber products (-0.9 per cent m-o-m).
In y-o-y terms, the IPPI dropped 2.3 per cent in November, following an upwardly
revised 2.6 per cent tumble (from -2.7 per cent) in October.
The report also revealed that the prices of raw materials purchased by
manufacturers operating in Canada, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index
(RMPI), plunged 4.2 per cent m-o-m in November after a downwardly revised 2.6
per cent m-o-m decline (from -2.5 per cent) in the previous month. The November fall in RMPI was led by a decrease in costs of crude energy
products (-10.3 per cent m-o-m).
On a y-o-y basis, the RMPI plummeted 4.6 per cent, following a downwardly
revised 0.9 per cent drop (from -0.8 per cent) in October. That represented the
steepest annual fall since July (-10.9 per cent).