Australia Q4 Export Price Index Unchanged
29 January 2015 - 1:15PM
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Export prices in Australia were unchanged on quarter in the
fourth quarter of 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on
Thursday.
That beat forecasts for a decline of 1.0 percent following the
3.9 percent tumble in the third quarter.
Among the individual components, prices for animal oils climbed
9.9 percent on quarter, followed by chemicals (4.2 percent), food
(4.0 percent), machinery (3.9 percent), manufactured articles (3.6
percent), mineral fuels (1.5 percent), commodities (0.8 percent)
and beverages (0.5 percent).
Prices for crude materials excluding fuels were down 4.4
percent.
Import prices climbed 0.9 percent on quarter versus expectations
for an increase of 1.4 percent after shedding 0.8 percent in the
three months prior.
Individually, prices for crude materials climbed 5.0 percent,
followed by manufactured articles (4.8 percent), machinery (3.4
percent), food (3.0 percent), chemicals (2.1 percent) and
commodities (1.1 percent).
Prices for mineral fuels tumbled 11.1 percent and beverage
prices dipped 0.8 percent.
On a yearly basis, export prices dropped 9.1 percent.
Individually, prices for manufactured goods climbed 12.8 percent
on year, followed by food (11.5 percent), machinery (5.3 percent),
chemicals (4.0 percent) and beverages (2.7 percent).
Prices for crude materials plummeted 26.2 percent, while animal
oil prices dropped 5.6 percent and commodity prices dipped 1.5
percent.
Import prices added 0.3 percent on year.
Individually, prices for crude materials jumped 11.5 percent on
year, followed by food (10.7 percent), chemicals (4.9 percent),
machinery (3.4 percent) and manufactured goods (1.0 percent).
Prices for mineral fuels tumbled 15.2 percent on year, and
commodity prices fell 2.5 percent.
Also on Thursday, a leading economic index for the Australian
economy showed slight improvement in November, the Conference Board
said, adding 0.1 percent.
That follows the 0.2 percent decline in October. Rural goods
exports and building approvals provided the largest positive
contributions.
The coincident index climbed 0.5 percent following the 0.2
percent gain in the previous month.
Taken together, the recent behavior of the indexes suggests that
the economic expansion should continue in the near term, but the
pace is unlikely to pick up much in early 2015, the board said.