Increase in commodity price index in January

Preliminary estimates for January show that the commodity price index increased by 3.7% on average in SDR terms after a 5.0% decline in December. The non-rural sub-index rose in the month, while the rural and base metals sub-indexes were unchanged. In terms of the Australian dollar, the index rose 1.8 percent in January.

Last year, this index increased by 10.6% in SDR terms, which was due to the increase in thermal coal and gold prices. This index has increased by 9.6% in terms of Australian dollars.

In line with previous publications, preliminary estimates for prices of iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal and LNG exports in recent months have been used based on market information. Using spot prices for major commodities, the index rose 0.6 percent in SDR terms in January, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier.
Using spot prices for bulk commodities, the index rose 0.6 percent in SDR terms in January, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier.