By Robb M. Stewart
OTTAWA--Producer prices in Canada recovered in October, driven by a rise in precious metals, while Canadian companies paid more for raw materials thanks largely to the biggest rise in crude-energy product costs in six months.
Statistics Canada's industrial product price index increased 1.2% from the month before, the largest rise since April and following declines the last two months. On a 12-month basis, the producer-price index was up 1.1%.
Excluding energy products, producer prices advanced 0.9% on-month, the data agency said Thursday.
Prices for primary nonferrous metal products was up strongly from the month before, mainly thanks to increases prices for unwrought gold, silver and platinum group metals, Statistics Canada said. The jump by precious metals came amid uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the U.S. election, conflict in the Middle East and as central banks moved to lower interest rates.
The industrial product price index measures the prices that manufacturers in Canada receive once their goods leave the plant. It doesn't reflect the final prices consumers pay for goods on store shelves.
Prices for raw materials, which track prices paid by manufacturers, were up 3.8% from September. That also was followed declined the last two months. Compared with a year earlier, prices for raw materials fell 2.8%, a third consecutive year-over-year decline.
Prices for conventional crude oil were up 4.6% from the month before, and synthetic crude prices rose 4.7%. A rise in prices for metal ores, concentrates and scrap also contributed to the increase in raw material costs for the month, the agency said.
After picking up in the first half of the year, economic growth in Canada has cooled even as consumer price pressures have eased and interest rates have fallen. Central bank policymakers are looking for a pickup in household spending and business investment to avoid inflation decelerating too sharply.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-21-24 0911ET