Ottawa (Canada), January 30: Prices for products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), increased 1.5 percent in December 2020, according to Statistics Canada on Friday.
The increase was due to higher prices for energy and petroleum products, and lumber and other wood products.
The prices for energy and petroleum products jumped 9 percent and the prices of lumber and other wood products soared 10.2 percent.
The prices of primary non-ferrous metal products rose 3.1 percent in December following a 0.6 percent gain in the previous month.
However, meat, fish and dairy product prices fell 3.3 percent in December, moderating the IPPI growth because of a drop in prices for fresh and frozen beef and veal, as well as fresh and frozen pork.
Year over year, the IPPI was up 1.8 percent.
In December, prices of raw materials purchased by manufacturers operating in the country, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), rose 3.5 percent, driven upward by higher prices for crude energy products.
Most of the RMPI growth in December was driven by higher prices for crude energy products which soared 10 percent, especially conventional crude oil and synthetic crude oil which surged 11.9 percent and 12.4 percent respectively.
Year over year, the RMPI was down 0.7 percent, mainly as a result of lower prices for conventional crude oil which plunged 24.7 percent.
However, this drop was mostly tempered by higher prices for gold, silver, and platinum group metal ores and concentrates which surged 26.3 percent.
Source: Xinhua