Canadian manufactured product prices rose 1.3% month over month in August, according to the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), while raw material prices increased 3.1%, as measured by the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), said the country's statistical agency on Thursday.
August's increases were driven in part by the resumption of the conflict between the United States and Iran, which pushed energy and oil product prices higher, according to Statistics Canada in a statement.
IPPI and RMPI were higher than a Bloomberg survey, which saw IPPI flat on the month and RMPI rising 0.8% month over month.
Excluding energy and oil products, the IPPI rose 0.8% monthly in August, driven notably by higher prices for primary non-ferrous metal products, as well as chemicals and chemical products. On a year-over-year basis, the IPPI increased 13.5%, added StatsCan.
Excluding crude energy products, the RMPI increased 1.1% month over month in August. On a year-over-year basis, the index rose 22.8%.
Data collected from this survey are used to produce two key measures of price change for the Canadian economy: the IPPI and the RMPI. The IPPI measures price movements for products sold by manufacturers in Canada, and the RMPI measures price movements for raw materials purchased by manufacturers in Canada.
The products reported in this survey will be tracked over time, and each month, price movements for these products are aggregated to produce the IPPI and the RMPI. Data for about 6,000 products are used to produce the IPPI and RMPI.
The IPPI and RMPI are used extensively by businesses for contract escalation and industry analysis. StatsCan uses these indexes to deflate current dollar values and derive estimates of real growth and productivity for the manufacturing sector.