The metals and minerals sub- index was off 2.7% from August, a month during which prices firmed. Economist Patricia Mohr pointed out copper prices declined following an end to the Peruvian miners’ strike, an expected resumption of operations at the Cananea mine in Mexico and the recent labor settlement at Highland Valley Copper in British Columbia.
“While concern over supply shortages has eased, the price decline has been limited because inventories held by U.S. and Japanese manufacturers are unusually low and demand is still firm,” she said.
Nickel prices have also declined. “The extreme tightness of this market is beginning to ease with slower stainless steel production and more available scrap supplies,” Mohr said. Metal prices, she added, are declining with reduced economic momentum in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
During September, agricultural prices also dropped while the forest product sub-index went unchanged. The oil and gas sector also eased. The all-commodity index tracks export prices of a variety of Canadian commodities, which are weighted according to their 1984 export values, except crude oil where the value of net exports is used.
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