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Farm Product Price Index
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Prices farmers received for their commodities were down 3.1% in August from July 2008, as a decrease in the crops index offset a 4.1% rise in the livestock and animal products index.
On a year-over-year basis, prices received by producers for crops were up 17.0% in August compared with August 2007, maintaining the double-digit increases that had begun in November 2006. However, both grain and oilseed prices dropped in August compared with July. Crop prices have found support from continued demand and uncertainty over new crop production. However, as North American producers start to fill their bins with this year's harvest, reports of higher production has put recent downward pressure on grain and oilseed prices.
The overall August prices for livestock and animal products increased 6.5% over their August 2007 level, as all commodities recorded an increase. August marked the first year-over-year increase in the hog index since May 2007. The lower Canadian dollar and continued demand provided support for hog prices. In August, the Canadian dollar lost 4.1% of its value in relation to the US dollar, pushing it to the lowest average level in 12 months.
Note: The growth rate of the total Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) is not a weighted average of the growth rates of its crop and livestock components. The growth rate of the total FPPI is derived from a weighted average of the component indices using a different set of weights in consecutive months. Given this, the growth rate of the composite FPPI can lie outside the growth rate of the components.
Available on CANSIM: tables 002-0021 and 002-0022.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5040.
The August 2008 issue of Farm Product Price Index, Vol. 8, no. 8 (21-007-XWE, free), is now available from the Publications module on our website under Free Internet publications, then Agriculture.
For more information, or to order data, call Client Services (toll-free 1-800-465-1991). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Nickeisha Patterson (613-951-3249: fax: 613-951-3868; nickeisha.patterson@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.
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