A slight pickup in metals and minerals helped to keep Scotiabank’s all-commodity price index from falling by more than 2% in August, the bank reports.
Higher prices for aluminum, potash and sulphur during the month offset falling prices for nickel, gold and silver. According to bank economist Patricia Mohr, the firmer prices for potash and sulphur reflect better sales to North Africa and the Far East, lower Canadian inventories and hopes that American farmers will buy more fertilizer in 1989 for their crops in anticipation of higher grain prices. The metals and minerals index is 36% higher than for the same month in 1987.
Down for the second consecutive month, the all-commodity index is close to 18% higher than a year ago and above the February, 1980, peak in the previous business cycle. The drop in the index is attributed to lower forest product, oil and gas, and agricultural prices.
The bank’s all-commodity index tracks export prices of a variety of Canadian commodities, which are weighted according to their 1984 export values.
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