New Zealand commodity prices had their biggest monthly decline since February 2009, rounding out their fifth consecutive slide, led by dairy products and kiwifruit.
The ANZ Commodity Price Index dropped 3.5% in October and has fallen 7.9% from its May peak.
Of the 17 commodities measured, 10 fell, two rose and five were unchanged.
The index fell 0.6% in local currency, as opposed to US dollar, terms, reflecting a broadly weaker New Zealand dollar. That softened the impact of the decline in global commodity prices.
The trade-weighted index has declined 6% in the past three months.
The decline in the world and NZ dollar indexes brings them back to their levels at the start of the year, though they are both at the highest for the month of October in at least five years.
Kiwifruit prices tumbled 17%, which ANZ economist Steve Edwards said reflects the traditional end to the export season.
Dairy products mainly fell, with cheese dropping 7%, skim milk powder and butter declining 6%, whole milk down 4% and casein down 1%. Aluminium prices fell 5% and beefs fell 4%, while lamb and sawn timber both slid 1%.
ANZ commodity price index
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2 Comments
Commodities such as steel, copper, etc are the ingredients of real economic growth, when demand drops for the ingredients for growth, its a preety clear sign that growth in the real economy will drop. Maybe you could mask this using financial innovation/engineering, lets see how that goes.
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