Canadian Farm Product Price Index falls 0.2% year-over-year in September, mainly because of lower crop prices, Statistics Canada says

Nevin Barich

OTTAWA , December 5, 2013 (press release) – The Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) declined 0.2% in September compared with September 2012, mainly because of lower crop prices. This was the second consecutive year-over-year decrease, as the drop in the crops index exceeded the gain in the overall livestock and animal products index.

The crops index was down 7.8% in September compared with September 2012. This was the third consecutive decrease, on a year-over-year basis, following a growth trend that had started in September 2010. All crops contributed to the decrease, except potatoes (+10.6%). The two largest contributors to the decrease in the crops index were oilseeds (-9.5%) and grains (-7.9%), with prices coming under pressure as the United States and world production recovered.

The livestock and animal products index rose 9.9% in September compared with September 2012. On a year-over-year basis, this index has been advancing at an increasing rate since April, following a downward trend that had started in August 2012.

All livestock components were up from September 2012, except poultry (-0.7%), which posted its first decline since December 2010. Increases for the other components ranged from 1.9% for dairy to 35.9% for hogs.

Besides hogs, the other large contributor to the increase was cattle and calves (+8.6%). The drop in the number of animals being marketed supported price increases. The number of head sold this year to the end of September was at its lowest level since 2001 for hogs and since 1995 for cattle. Prior to the slight increase on July 1, 2013, up 0.1% from July 1, 2012, the number of cattle and calves on Canadian farms had declined for seven consecutive years.

Compared with August, the FPPI was down 1.9% in September, as both the crops index (-2.4%) and the livestock and animal products index (-0.8%) decreased.

Note to readers

Starting with the release on June 5, 2013, the time base used in the calculation of the Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) was rebased from 1997=100 to 2007=100. The seasonal marketing pattern was also updated. The seasonal weighting pattern remains constant and is only updated periodically, for instance when the time base is revised. This weighting pattern, which had been based on the monthly marketings from 1994 to 1998, is now based on the monthly marketings from 2006 to 2010.

As a result of rebasing, CANSIM tables 002-0021 and 002-0022 have been replaced by new tables 002-0068 and 002-0069. In addition, a new table, 002-0070, has been created to provide the weights of the major commodity groups in the index, which had previously been available in the publication Catalogue number21-007-X.

Although the FPPI base year has changed to 2007=100 in the new CANSIM tables, the rates of change measured for periods prior to 2002 remain unchanged for both the 1997=100 and the 2007=100 tables. Beginning in 2002, the rates of change for the indexes reflect the new seasonal weighting pattern as well as changes to commodities being shifted from miscellaneous category to being calculated as a separate commodity and vice versa.

The growth rate of the total FPPI is derived from a weighted average of the component indexes using a different set of weights in consecutive months; it is not a weighted average of the growth rates of its crop and livestock components. Given this, the growth rate of the composite FPPI can lie outside the growth rate of these components.

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