July livestock prices up, crops down: StatsCan

Prices farmers received for their commodities were virtually unchanged, up 0.1 per cent in July from June 2008, as a slight increase in the livestock and animal products index offset a 2.6 per cent dip in the crops index, according to Statistics Canada Wednesday.

This was just the second monthly decrease in the crops index since October 2007, StatsCan said.

On an annual basis, prices received by producers for crops were up 39.5 per cent in July compared with July 2007, maintaining double-digit increases which had begun in November 2006.

Crop prices have found support from continued demand and uncertainty over new crop production, StatsCan said.

The overall July prices for livestock and animal products increased 3.9 per cent over their July 2007 level. This was the first year-to-year increase in the livestock index since August 2007 as all livestock commodities posted increases.

“All,” that is, except for hogs, which have been influenced by the North American supply, higher feed costs and the higher Canadian dollar. During this 12-month period, the Canadian dollar rose 3.6 per cent against the U.S. dollar.

Note: The growth rate of Statistics Canada’s 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.